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GIFT  OF 
Ottilia  C,  Anderson 


LI  IF  IE 

AND 

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PUBLIC    SBRVICES 

OF 

HON.  JAMES  G.  BLAINE 


THE   BRILLIANT   ORATOR    AND    SAGACIOUS    STATESMAN.       THE  BOSOM   FRIEND    OF 

THE     LAMENTED    GARFIELD,     AND     NOW     THE     CHOICE     OF     THE     NATION 

FOR      PRESIDENT     OF     THE     UNITED      STATES.       PREPARED     WITH 

GREAT  CARE    BY  HIS    INTIMATE   FRIEND    AND    ASSOCIATE, 

H.    J.    RAMSDELL,    ESQ. 

For  twenty  yed^i  a  prominent  Journalist  at  Washington. 


ALSO   THE   LIFE    OF    THE    COURAGEOUS    SOLDIER,     DISTINGUISHED    SENATOR    AN 
NOMINEE  FOR   THE  VICE-PRESIDENCY, 


GEN.  JOHN   A.   LOGAN, 


BY  BEXNL  F>E}RIvE>Y  POORER 

Author   of  Life   of  Napoleon,  Gen.  Burnside,  &c.,  for  fifty  years  a  popular 
Journalist  at    Wasriin^ton,    and  twentj-twn  years  an 
Office*  cf  the  U.*S  Senate*    ' 


PROFUSELY    ILLUSTRATED. 


O.  C.  HASKELL,  PUBLISHER  : 

DES   MOINES,    IOWA. 


R '- 

* 


Ot^w<-k    C  .   Cv*JL 

Copyright,  According  to  Act  of  Congress, 
By  ALFRED  HAMILTON, 

1884. 


PREFACE 


CAMPAIGN  Biographies  are  a  national  neces 
sity.  Why?  Curiosity  concerning  candidates 
prompts  many  persons  to  secure  and  read  them, 
but  there  is  a  broader  and  deeper  reason  for 
their  production  than  the  demand  of  mere  curi 
osity. 

Our  Presidents  are  far  from  being  absolute 
monarchs.  The  humblest  citizen  has  no  need  to 
stand  in  personal  fear  of  our  Chief  Magistrate. 
He  is  a  citizen  among  his  fellow-citizens,  like  them 
amenable  to  the  laws  of  the  land.  And  yet  the 
Presidency  is  no  sinecure.  The  President  is  not 
a  figure  head  to  the  good  "Ship  of  State."  Nor 
is  he  the  commander.  He  is  rather  the  pilot. 
His  hand  is  on  the  helm.  He  directs  the  move 
ments  so  long  as  they  be  presumptively  right  and 
reasonably  safe ;  but  there  is  a  commander  in  the 
embodied  nation  whose  word  can  dismiss  the 
pilot,  and  whose  might  can  control  the  ship, 
whether  it  be  for  her  safety  or  her  loss.  The 
people  know  their  power.  They  make  and 

M171423 


6  PREFACE. 

unmake  Presidents.  But  they  do  both  these 
duties  with  reason  and  for  cause,  and  this  is 
why  the  thoughtful  people  will  read  about  the 
candidates,  for  whom  their  votes  are  asked. 
Here  rests,  therefore,  the  national  necessity  for 
Campaign  Biographies. 

And  this  Biography  of  the  Republican  candi 
dates  for  our  highest  national  offices  is  a  most 
worthy  one?  Long  before  the  nominating  Con 
vention  met,  careful  inquiry  was  entered  into  to 
discover  the  certainties,  the  probabilities,  and  the 
possibilities  of  the  approaching  contest.  The  cer 
tainties  were  few;  the  possibilities  were  unlimited. 
But  all  promising  lines  were  worked,  and,  at  no 
small  expense,  material  was  gathered  concerning 
every  probable  candidate.  In  none  of  these 
experimental  efforts  was  there  better  success  than 
in  the  case  of  those  on  whom  the  uncertain 
honors  fell  at  last. 

Forwarded  beyond  all  compeers  by  this  prelim 
inary  work,  and  vigorously  pushed,  night  and 
day,  by  competent  authors,  this  Biography  of  the 
Republican  nominees  is  believed  to  be  the  first 
in  the  field,  and  wholly  worthy  of  the  nation's 
patronage. 

THE  PUBLISHERS. 


CONTENTS. 


PREFATORY  .  .  1-18 


BIOGRAPHY  OF  HON.  JAMES  G.  ELAINE. 



CHAPTER    I. 

ANCESTRY  AND  EARLY  LIFE. 

"Blood" — Maternal  Ancestry — Paternal  Ancestry  —  Ancestral  Posses 
sions  —  Revolutionary  Record  —  Birth-place  —  Early  "  Schooling  "  — 
Youthful  Sports — Early  Struggles  —  At  Lancaster,  Ohio  —  The  Young 
Collegian — College  Life — A  Hero  —  Graduation — "The  Duty  of  an 
Educated  American  "  —  Prophetic  Utterances  —  Teaching —  Western 
Military  Institute — Philadelphia  Institution  for  the  Blind — Miss  Stan- 
wood — Removal  to  Maine — The  Kennebec  Journal — Growing  Repu 
tation — In  the  Legislature — Chairman  of  the  State  Committee  —  The 
Portland  Advertiser — An  Author  I9~39 

CHAPTER    II. 

POLITICAL  AND  OFFICIAL   CAREER. 

Growing  Popularity  in  Maine — Fremont's  Nomination — Elaine's  First 
Speech — His  First  Public  Office — To  the  Legislature — Speaker — To 
Congress — Elaine  and  President  Lincoln — At  His  Desk — Drafted — 
Reflected  to  Congress — Leader  of  the  House — Admirable  Work — Won 
derful  Endurance — Habits  of  Life — Quick  Perception — Good  Judgment 
— Firm  Decision 40-50 

CHAPTER    III. 

PERSONAL  TRAITS  AND  CHARACTERISTICS. 

Keen  Humor — Quaint  Anecdote  —  General  Literature  —  Modern  Oratoiy 
Coolness  —  Readiness  —  Repartee  —  Courage  —  Candor — Clearness  of 
Statement  —  Satire  —  Graciousness  —  Courtesy —  Studiousness  —  Persis 
tency — Organizing  Victory — Dignified — Religious  Association? — Diplo 
matic 


8  CONTENTS. 


CHAPTER  IV. 

WARM-HEARTED   AND   BELOVED. 

Elaine's  Love  of  Home — An  American — Letter  to  Washington,  Pa. — 
Early  Popularity  Undiminished — Opinions  from  Augusta — "  Unstinted 
Praise" — "  A  Model  of  Honor " — Absolute  Unanimity — Practical  Gen 
erosity — Dr.  Ecob's  Statement — Conscience  in  a  Vote  ....  66-76 

CHAPTER  V. 

AN   AMERICAN    OF   THE   AMERICANS. 

His  Own  Nation  First — American  in  all  Aspirations — Active  Patriotism — 

Steamers  to  Brazil — Subsidizing  Steamers — "  Everything  American  " 

Shrinking  Trade — Tributary  to  Great  Britain — Bi-metallic  Currency 

Trade  Dollars '. 77— ^5 

CHAPTER     VI. 

A  FRIEND  OF  LABOR  AND  ENTERPRISE.. 

Accustomed  to  Work — Sympathy  with  Workers — Favoring  American 
Industry — Elevating  Laborers — Urging  Honest  Money — Greenback  De 
lusions — Fair  Wages  —  Independent  Farmers — The  Newer  States — 
Coolie  Labor — Labor-Saving  Machinery — Unpaid  Toilsmen  .  .  86-96 

CHAPTER    VI L 

THE   ORATOR. 

His  Public  Speaking — Personal  Appearance — Spirit— Garfield's  Eulogy — 
A  Magnificent  Peroration — Directness — Force — Pointedness — His  Poli 
tical  Creed 97-102 

CHAPTER     VIII. 

THE  BRILLIANT  SPEAKER. 

A  High  Office — British  Speakership — American  Speakership  —  Its  Pecu 
liar  Difficulties  —  Immense  Responsibility  —  Committees  —  Chairman 
ships —  Erratic  Members  —  Assigning  the  Floor — In  the  Chair  — 
Starting  Business  —  Avoiding  Confusion  —  Dexterity  —  Fairness  — 
Friendliness — Sagacity — Retirement  from  the  Speakership — Closing 
Address — Salvos  of  Applause 103-115 

CHAPTER  IX. 

DARKER  DAYS. 

Gathering  Clouds — Opposing  Combinations — "  The  Rebel  Brigadiers  " — 
Leading  the  Minority — "  Drawing  the  Fire  " — General  Amnesty — The 
Force  Bill— Responsibility  of  Jeff  Davis— Opposed  by  Senator  Hill— 
The  "Maine  Yankee" — Skirmishing  with  "Sunset"  Cox — Garfield  in 
the  Fight— Charge  of  the  "  Plumed  Knight"— A  Parliamentary  Stroke— 


CONTENTS.  9 

An  Era  of  Investigations — Aspersions  Multiplying—Personal  Explana 
tion — Uncomfortable  "Flea  Hunt "— " Dragnet "  Resolutions — Grand 
Explosion — Mr.  Mulligan — "The  Knight"  Again  in  the  Saddle — A 
Suppressed  Dispatch — "  Schoolmaster  from  Maine  " — No  Condemna 
tion  —  Sunstroke  —  Convention  of  '76  —  The  Popular  Will  De 
feated  116-144 

CHAPTER     X. 

SECRETARY  OF  STATE. 

Garfield  and  Elaine  Meet — Their  Growing  Friendship — Garfield's  First 
Choice — An  Honorable  Post — A  Splendid  Acceptance — The  Terrible 
Tragedy — Confidential  Relations — Brief  but  Burdensome — The  Medical 
Telegrams — Perplexing  Diplomacy — Central  American  Affairs — The 
Nicaraguan  Canal — Clayton-Bulwer  Treaty — The  Hegemony — Peruvian 
Affairs  —  More  Investigations  —  A  "Smelling  Committee" — Elaine's 
Peace  Policy 145-172 

CHAPTER   XI. 

MR.  ELAINE'S  HOMES. 

How  Eminent  Men  Live — Dupont  Circle,  Washington — Brick  and  Brown 
Stone — Exterior — Interior — State  Street,  Augusta,  Me. — Exterior — In 
terior  173-181 

CHAPTER     XII. 

SEEN  BY  ENGLISH  EYES. 

London  World' 's  Correspondent — Fifteenth  Street,  Washington — House 
Described — Company — Family — Adornments — Greeting — Personal  Ap 
pearance  182-187 

CHAPTER     XIII. 

KEENNESS  OF   PERCEPTION. 

High  Order  of  Perception — A  Specious  Bill — Merciless  Exposure — Re 
sistless  Ridicule — The  Real  Motive  Exposed — Governor  Kent's  Opinion 
— Disparaging  Questions — Thad.  Stevens'  Opinion 188-200 

CHAPTER     XIV. 

"  STIRRING  UP  STRIFE." 

A  Popular  Accusation — Southern  School-Books — Arithmetical  Examples — 
Rhetoric  for  Schools — Personal  Skirmishing — Historic  Addresses — 
Vapid  Rhetoric — Threatening  Condemned 201-210 

CHAPTER     XV. 

WITHERING  SARCASM. 

Coercing  the  Executive — Stopping  Appropriations — Cutting  off  Supplies — 
New  Doctrines — Dangerous  Theories — Prophetic  Utterances — Wither 
ing  Denunciation  211-219 


10  CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER   XVI, 

IRISH-AMERICAN   AND   GERMAN   QUESTIONS. 

Scotch-Irish  Ancestry — Friendly  Sons  of  St.  Patrick — Elaine's  Letter  to  an 
Irishman — Prosperity  of  the  Irish — The  Steubens  at  Yorktown — Honors 
to  German  Patriots — Thanks  from  the  German  Emperor.  .  .  220-227 

CHAPTER     XVII. 

ENFRANCHISED  OR  DISFRANCHISED. 

The  Negro  Voter — Questions  Concerning  him — Wrong  Views — The  Case 
Settled — An  Elevating  Power — Educational  Test — Property  Test — En 
franchisement  Right 228-233 

CHAPTER     XVIII. 

THE   CHINESE   QUESTION. 

No  True  Immigration — Low  Character  of  Comers — Never  Assimilate — 
Degrade  Labor — Danger  Near — No  Official  Endorsement — Retalia 
tion  ...  234-237 

CHAPTER     XIX. 

AMERICAN    SHIP   BUILDING   AND   COMMERCE. 

Dependence  on  England — Help  for  Internal  Improvements — Great  Brit 
ain's  Example — French  Policy — Italian  Policy — What  to  do — Enter  the 
Race — Curtail  Naval  Expenditures — Subsidize  American  Ships — Invite 
Competition 238-247 

CHAPTER   XX. 

MUNICIPAL   DEBT. 

A  Quadruple  Burden — How  it  Grows — Debt  Necessary — Debts  Needless — 
Results  of  Debt — Remedies — Jefferson's  Rule 248-251 

CHAPTER     XXI. 

IRREDEEMABLE    PAPER    CURRENCY. 

A  Sound  Financial  Policy — Evils  of  Paper  Money — A  Forced  Exception — 
Legal  Tender  Notes — Absolute  Necessity 252-254 

CHAPTER      XXII. 

PURITY   OF  THE   BALLOT   BOX. 

Election  Frauds — Black  Voters  Intimidated — White  Southern  Voters  Tri 
umphant — No  Abridgement  Allowable — Reduced  Representation — Fair 
Elections  Everywhere  —  Peace  Desired  —  Purity  Demanded —  Equal 
Rights,  but  Nothing  More  ....... 255-262 


CONTENTS.  I  I 

* 
CHAPTER      XXIII, 

AN  AFTER-DINNER  SPEECH. 

A  Crucial  Test — New  England  Dinner — A  Brother-in-law — New  Eng 
land  Influence — Abused — Aspiring — Serious  Comments — "  May  Flow 
er  "  Furniture — Died  Without  the  Sight 263-268 

CHAPTER  XXIV. 

THE   PLUMED   KNIGHT,, 

An  Accepted  Title — Its  Author — The  demand  of  '76 — The  Man  who  met 
the  Demand — A  Grand  Year — An  Armed  Warrior — A  Plumed  Knight 

•  — A  Shining  Lance — A  Standard  Bearer — The  Prince  of  Parliamentar 
ians — The  Leader  of  Leaders — Knightly  Deeds 269-273 


CHAPTER    XXV. 

OUT   OF  POLITICS. 

Withdrawal  from  the  Cabinet — In  his  Pleasant  Home — At  his 
History — No  part  in  Politics — Nominated — On  the  Course — The 
Outlook 274-276 


CHAPTER     XXVI. 

MR.  ELAINE'S  ASSOCIATE. 

John  A.  Logan  for  Vice  President — His  Farewell  to  the  Army  of  the  Ten 
nessee  277-282 


THE  NOMINATING  CONVENTION. 


Chapter  I.          The  Convention 285 

Chapter  II.        Personelle  of  the  Convention 295 

Chapter  III.      The  Platform      322 

Chapter  IV.       Naming  the  Candidates 332 

Chapter  V.        The  Choice 344 

Chapter  VI.      Congratulations  and  Rejoicings 353 

Chapter  VII.     Notifying  the  Candidates  .    . 367 

Chapter  VIII.  Letters  of  Acceptance  ,      .    , 377 


1 2  CONTENTS. 

OUR  PRESIDENTS. 


1.  George  Washington 385 

2.  John  Adams 399 

3.  Thomas  Jefferson    ...  405 

4.  James  Madison 415 

5.  James  Monroe 418 

6.  John  Quincy  Adams 422 

7.  Andrew  Jackson ....  426 

8.  Martin  Van  Buren 433 

9.  William  Henry  Harrison 436 

10.  John  Tyler 440 

11.  James  Knox  Polk 444 

12.  Zachary  Taylor 448 

13.  Millard  Fillmore 455 

14.  Franklin  Pierce -. 458 

15.  James  Buchanan 462 

1 6.  Abraham  Lincoln ...  467 

17.  Andrew  Johnson 479 

18.  Ulysses  Simpson  Grant  ...  482 

19.  Rutherford  Birchard  Hayes   ...  494 

20.  James   Abram    Garfield 498 

21.  Chester  Allan  Arthur 529 


LIFE  OF  SENATOR  JOHN  A.  LOGAN. 

CHAPTER  I. 
The  Boy — The  Student — The  Soldier 537-54' 

C  H  A  PT  E  R     II. 

The  Student — The  Lawyer — The  Legislator 542-546 

CHAPTER     III. 
Representative   in  Congress — Washington 549~554 

CHAPTER     IV. 
Stormy  Scenes  in  Congress — Hostilities  Commenced 555~5°2 

CHAPTER     V. 
The  Colonel — Belmont— Fort  Henry— Fort  Donelsoa  .    .    .    .    ,  563-569 


CONTENTS. 


CHAPTER     VI. 
Brigadier-General — Corinth — Jackson — The  Patriot 57°~575 

CHAPTER    VII. 
Major-General — Vicksburg — The  Orator 576-582 

CHAPTER    VIII. 
Corps  Commander — Kenesaw — Peach  Tree  Creek 583-588 

CHAPTER     IX. 

The  Volunteer — Ezra  Chapel — The  Champion  of  the  Union  .   .    .  591-596 

CHAPTER     X. 
Civil  Life — The  Representative  in  Congress 597-602 

CHAPTER     XL 
The  Legislator — The  Manager  of  Impeachment 603-608 

CHAPTER    XII. 
The  Legislator — The  Grand  Army 609-615 

CHAPTER     XIII. 
The  Senator — The  Soldiers'  Friend 616-621 

CHAPTER     XIV. 
Return  to  the  Senate — Republican  Convention 622-626 

CHAPTER     XV. 
The  Soldier  Statesman — The  Candidate 627-632 

THE  CITIZEN'S    HAND-BOOK. 

1.  Bird- Eye  View  of  Presidential  Contest 635 

2.  Tables  of  Presidential  Elections 643 

3.  Presidential  Election  of  1884 646 

4.  Qualifications  of  Voters 647 

5.  Presidents .......... 648 

6.  Vice  Presidents 649 

7.  Cabinets 649 

8.  Commanders  of  Army 655 


1 4  CONTENTS. 

9.  Commanders  of  Navy ...  656 

10.  Speakers  of  Congress .  657 

11.  Congressional  Representation  of  States  ...  .  657 

12.  Supreme  Court  Justices .    .       659 

13.  Homes  of  Chief  Officers .660 

14.  Our  Representatives  Abroad .  661 

15.  Representatives  from  Abroad  .  662 

16.  Pay  of  Navy  Officers 663 

17.  Pay  of  Army  Officers 664 

18.  Pensions  Paid 664 

19.  Balance  of  Trade -665 

20.  Revenues 666 

21.  National  Debt 667 

22.  Political  Divisions  of  Congress 668 

23.  Constitution  of  the  United  States   ....  .  669 


ILLUSTRATIONS. 


HON.  JAMES  G.  ELAINE  (steel),  ....  Frontispiece. 
BIRTHPLACE  OF  HON.  JAMES  G.  ELAINE,  ....  23 
WASHINGTON  AND  JEFFERSON  COLLEGE,  .  .  .  .  33 

BURIAL-PLACE  OF  ELAINE'S  PARENTS, 69 

RETIRING  FROM  THE  SPEAKERSHIP,         113 

MR.  ELAINE  AT  GARFIELD'S  ASSASSINATION,  .  .151 
ELAINE'S  MANSION  AT  WASHINGTON,  D.  C,  .  .  .175 
ELAINE'S  SUMMER  RESIDENCE  AT  AUGUSTA,  ME.,  179 

CAPITOL  AT  WASHINGTON, .   195 

GROUND  PLAN  OF  EXPOSITION  HALL,  CHICAGO,       .  289 

PRESIDENT  CHESTER  A.  ARTHUR, 329 

SENATOR  GEORGE  F.  EDMUNDS, 329 

SENATOR  JOSEPH  R.  HAWLEY,        333 

SENATOR  JOHN   SHERMAN, .     .337 

GEN.  WILLIAM  TECUMSEH    SHERMAN, 337 

SECRETARY  ROBERT  T.  LINCOLN,       .     .     .     .     .     .341 

SECRETARY  WALTER  Q.  GRESHAM,  .  .     .••'....     .     .  341 

THE  PRESIDENTS — WASHINGTON  TO  HARRISON,  .  .  383 
MOUNT  VERNON,  THE  HOME  OF  WASHINGTON,  .  .  397 

CARPENTER'S  HALL,  PHILADELPHIA,        401 

INDEPENDENCE  HALL,  PHILADELPHIA, 401 

HOUSE  WHERE  "  THE  DECLARATION  "  WAS  WRITTEN,  407 

MONTICELLO,  THE    HOME    OF    JEFFERSON,       ....       .    4!  I 

THE  WHITE  HOUSE,  WASHINGTON,  D.  C.,   .     .     .     .  449 

EAST  ROOM  OF  THE  WHITE  HOUSE, 449 

THE  PRESIDENTS — TYLER  TO  GRANT, 469 

15 


1 6  ILLUSTRATIONS. 

LINCOLN'S  BIRTHPLACE,  ELIZABETHTOWN,  KY.,  .  .  477 
LINCOLN'S  RESIDENCE  AT  SPRINGFIELD,  ILL.,  .  .  477 
BIRTHPLACE  OF  GEN.  GRANT,  .  .  .•  .-  .  .  .  483 
PHILADELPHIA'S  WELCOME  TO  GRANT,  .  .  .  .491 

RUTHERFORD  B.  HAYES, 495 

JAMES  A.  GARFIELD, .'"...-.  499 

GARFIELD'S  HOME  AT  MENTOR,  O.,       503 

PORTRAITS  OF  GARFIELD'S  CABINET, 509 

HON.  JOHN  A.  LOGAN  (steel), 535 

MRS.  SENATOR  JOHN  A.  LOGAN, 547 

"ON  TO  RICHMOND," 559 

FORT  DONELSON 567 

FORT  HENRY, 567 

BATTLEFIELD  NEAR  JACKSON,   Miss., 579 

VlEW  IN  VlCKSBURG  AFTER  ITS  FALL,  .  .  .  -579 
DEATH  OF  GENERAL  MCPHERSON  BEFORE  ATLANTA,  589 


CHAPTER  I. 

ANCESTRY   AND    EARLY    LIFE. 

LONG  usage  has  established  a  custom  that  can 
not  be  broken  at  this  late  day.  In  biographical 
writing  the  author  must  give  dates  and  facts  so 
elaborately  and  so  accurately  that  no  possibility  of 
dispute  can  arise.  A  great  man's  birth,  his  early 
life,  his  struggles  with  wealth  or  poverty,  his  final 
triumph — all  must  be  laid  open  to  the  public.  It 
is  not  always  the  poor  who  have  their  trials  in 
early  life.  It  was  said  ages  ago  that  human 
existence  was  merely  a  world  of  compensations. 
What  money  can  buy,  the  poor  lad  often  needs  ; 
but  he  often  possesses  traits  of  character,  inde 
pendent  thought  and  stalwart  energy  that  no 
money  can  pay  for.  As  a  general  proposition  it 
is  as  hard  to  struggle  against  great  wealth  as 
against  close  poverty.  A  thoughtful  observer  of 
human  life  and  human  frailties  will  say  that  the 
carefully  reared  poor  boy  has  the  advantage  in 
the  life  fight  over  the  boy  who  can  always  have 
whatever  money  can  buy.  Necessity  is  the  great 
teacher  and  the  great  example.  It  is  harder  for 
the  rich  boy  to  rise  in  honest  endeavor  than  the 
poor  boy,  for  with  the  poor  boy  it  is  necessity,, 

2  19 


£0  ;  LIFE  *6ir  JAMES  G.  ELAINE. 

while  with  the  rich  boy  it  is  a  sort  of  amusement. 
To  his  mind  his  future  is  secure  ;  he  knows  he 
need  not  work  for  his  living  ;  he  feels  no  anxiety, 
and  his  future  in  ease  and  luxury  is  established 
beyond  a -question. 

And  so  we  pass  to  the  life  of  the  candidate  of 
the  Republican  party  in  the  great  election  of 
1884,  and  in  his  life  is  illustrated  the  principle 
suggested  in  the  brief  remarks  above. 

James  Gillespie  Elaine,  who  was  nominated  by 
the  Republican  party  assembled  in  convention  at 
Chicago,  June  3d,  for  President  of  the  United 
States,  was  born  on  the  3ist  of  January,  1830. 
Good,  solid  Americans,  the  men  who  till  the  soil, 
who  contribute  to  the  material  prosperity  of  the 
country  in  other  walks  of  life,  who  add  to  the 
glory  of  our  institutions  and  have  made  us  re 
spected  as  a  nation,  have  very  little  regard  for 
what  is  known  as  "  blood."  As  a  people,  we  are 
inclined  to  take  a  man  as  we  find  him.  A  noble 
man  may  be  found  behind  a  homespun  jacket,  and 
a  noble  intellect  may  be  covered  by  a  rusty  hat. 
On  the  other  hand,  broadcloth  may  cover  a  dis 
honest  heart,  a  silk  hat  may  crown  an  empty  head, 
and  a  great  name  may  belong  to  one  who  has 
never  done  anything  praiseworthy,  and  who  is 
incapable  of  a  noble  aspiration.  In  Mr.  Elaine  is 
represented  both  a  great  and  honorable  ancestry, 
and  the  career  of  a  boy  of  the  people.  He  is 
proud  of  his  ancestors,  as  he  has  reason  to  be, 


ANCESTRY   AND    EARLY    LIFE.  21 

but  at  the  same  time  he  likes  to  dwell  upon  the 
different  phases  of  the  struggles  which  brought 
him  to  his  present  eminence. 

His  ancestors,  both  on  the  side  of  his  father  and 
his  mother,  were  of  high  and  honorable  standing. 
His  mother's  name  was  Gillespie,  and  her  family 
was  distinguished  in  Pennsylvania  for  many  gene 
rations,  even  ante-dating  the  Revolution.  Neal 
Gillespie,  Mr.  Elaine's  maternal  grandfather,  was 
a  man  of  large  property,  and  was  honored,  re 
spected  and  liked  by  the  people  of  the  whole  sur 
rounding  country.  Mr.  Elaine's  father  (Ephraim 
L.  Elaine)  was  born  and  reared  in  Carlisle,  Cum 
berland  county,  a  beautiful  village  nestling  in  one 
of  the  most  picturesque  valleys  that  the  hand  of 
nature  ever  glorified.  The  father,  after  an  extended 
tour  in  Europe,  South  America  and  the  West 
Indies,  returned  to  spend  the  greater  portion  of 
his  life  in  the  beautiful  county  of  Washington, 
where  he  died  before  his  son  was  fully  grown. 
He  went  to  this  section  about  1818,  having  the 
largest  landed  possessions  of  any  man  of  his  age 
in  Western  Pennsylvania,  owning  an  estate  which, 
had  it  been  preserved,  would  have  amounted 
to-day  to  many  millions.  As  a  single  item  in  that 
estate,  it  may  be  interesting  to  mention  that,  in 
1825,  Mr.  Elaine's  father  deeded  to  the  Econom- 
ites  the  splendid  tract  of  land  on  which  their  town, 
with  all  its  improvements  and  all  its  wealth,  now 
stands.  The  price  was  $25,000  for  a  property 


22  LIFE    OF    JAMES    G.    ELAINE. 

whose  value  to-clay,  even  if  unimproved,  would  be 
a  princely  fortune.  There  were  also  timber  tracts 
on  the  Allegheny  and  coal  tracts  on  the  Monon- 
gahela,  at  that  day  of  no  special  value,  which  now 
represent  large  fortunes  in  the  hands  of  those 
lucky  enough  to  hold  them.  Very  near  the  large 
tracts  owned  by  his  father  and  grandfather,  Mr. 
Blaine  is  now  the  possessor  of  one  of  the  most 
valuable  coal  properties  in  the  Monongahela  val 
ley.  In  area  it  is  but  a  fraction  of  that  which  he 
might  have  hoped  to  inherit,  but  in  value  it  is 
much  greater  than  the  whole  landed  estate  of  his 
father  fifty  years  ago. 

Mr.  Elaine's  paternal  great-grandfather  was  a 
colonel  in  the  Pennsylvania  line  in  the  Revolu 
tionary  war.  He  was  the  intimate  friend  of  Gen 
eral  Washington,  and  was  commissary  general 
of  the  northern  department  of  Washington's 
army.  •  He  was  a  man  of  large  means,  and  from 
his  own  purse,  and  from  contributions  obtained 
.from  friends,  he  advanced  large  sums  of  money 
toward  purchasing 'supplies  for  the  army  during 
that  memorable  winter  at  Valley  Forge.  Wash 
ington  himself  attributed  the  preservation  of  his 
troops  from  absolute  starvation  to  the  heroic  and 
self-sacrificing  efforts  of  Colonel  Blaine. 

The  birth-place  of  the  great  Maine  statesman 
was  Indian  Hill  Farm,  Washington  County,  Pa., 
opposite  the  little  town  of  Brownsville,  on  the 
Monongahela  river.  The  home  in  which  he  first 


ANCESTRY    AND    EARLY    LIFE.  25 

saw  the  light  is  still  standing,  though  it  is  now  in 
a  hopeless  state  of  decay.  It  is  of  stone,  and  was 
built  by  Mr.  Elaine's  great-grandfather  before  the 
Revolutionary  war.  It  is  said  to  have  been  the 
first  stone  house  built  on  the  west  bank  of  the 
Mononp^ahela  river.  There  were  no  neighbors  ; 

o  o 

and  on  that  dreary,  bleak  and  stormy  morning  in 
January,  fifty-four  years  ago,  it  was  a  struggle 
between  life  and  death  for  him  whose  name  is 
to-day  in  everybody's  mouth.  In  all  there  were 
eight  children — five  sons  and  three  daughters — 
born  to  the  Blaine  family ;  but  James,  whose  name 
is  now  so  prominent,  and  who  has  been  honored 
throughout  the  country  for  twenty  years,  is  the 
only  one  who  has  achieved  distinction. 

Mr.  Blaine  was  very  carefully  educated.  His 
whole  family,  both  on  his  father's  and  his  mother's 
side,  had  every  advantage,  and  even  in  that  early 
day  they  appreciated  the  value  of  what  was  then 
known  as  "schooling."  At  a  considerable  dis 
tance  from  the  family  homestead  there  was  a  little 
red  school-house,  and  James  began  his  education 
there.  He  was  then  but  six  years  old.  Whether 
he  was  bright  or  dull  at  this  age  cannot  be  dis 
covered  now.  That  he  would  be  sometime  Presi 
dent  of  the  United  States  was  not  contemplated, 
and  so  no  more  attention  was  paid  to  him  than  to 
any  boy  in  school.  The  two  teachers  to  whom 
he  first  recited  as  a  barefooted  boy  are  still  living. 
One  is  Mary  Ann  Graves,  who  came  from  a 


26  LIFE    OF    JAMES    G.    ELAINE. 

Quaker  family.  She  is  now  Mrs.  Johnson,  and  is 
living  near  Canton,  Ohio.  The  other  is  Mrs. 
Matilda  Dorsey,  who  still  remains  at  Brownsville. 
He  learned  what  he  could  at  this  country  school. 
During  the  vacations  he  played  at  work  on  the 
old  farm,  which  contained  about  five  hundred 
acres.  Farming,  however,  was  not  his  bent  at 
that  time,  though  in  later  life  he  learned  to  appre 
ciate  the  glory  of  the  country,  and  to  love  its  mani 
fold  beauties.  He  gave  his  idle  hours  to  boating 
and  to  horses.  It  was  his  delight  to  mount  vicious 
colts  that  no  one  else  would  trust,  and  among  the 
people  in  Washington  County  it  is  remembered 
that  Jim.  Elaine  always  conquered  every  colt  he 
mounted.  He  had  many  ugly  falls,  and  some 
broken  limbs,  but  he  never  gave  up  a  horse  that 
he  intended  to  ''break." 

Mr.  Elaine's  family  was  not  what  may  be  called 
poor  in  his  young  days,  and  he  never  lacked  the 
necessaries  of  life,  but  he  never  had  in  his  youth 
the  unlimited  means  which  the  rich  man's  sons 
enjoy  to-day.  In  this  connection  an  extract  from 
his  matchless  oration  on  Garfield,  delivered  in  the 
capital,  at  Washington,  in  the  presence  of  the 
House  of  Representatives,  the  Senate,  and  the 
principal  officers  of  Government,  may  not  be  in 
appropriate,  as,  in  a  measure,  his  own  experience 
is  therein  portrayed.  There  were  present  on  that 
occasion,  besides  the  members  of  both  Houses  of 
Congress,  the  President  of  the  United  States  and 


ANCESTRY    AND    EARLY    LIFE.  27 

his  cabinet,  the  foreign  ministers  resident  in 
Washington,  the  judges  of  the  highest  courts,  and 
distinguished  men  in  nearly  every  walk  in  life. 
Speaking  of  Garfield's  poverty,  Mr.  Blaine  then 
said  : 

"  No  manly  man  feels  anything  of  shame  in 
looking  back  to  early  struggles  with  adverse 
circumstances,  and  no  man  feels  a  worthier  pride 
than  when  he  has  conquered  the  obstacles  to  his 
progress.  But  no  one  of  noble  mould  desires  to 
be  looked  upon  as  having  occupied  a  menial 
position,  as  having  been  repressed  by  a  feeling 
of  inferiority,  or  as  having  suffered  the  evils  of 
poverty  until  relief  was  found  at  the  hand  of 
chanty.  General  Garfield's  youth  presented  no 
hardships  which  family  love  and  family  energy  did 
not  overcome,  subjected  him  to  no  privations 
which  he  did  not  cheerfully  accept,  and  left  no 
memories  save  those  which  were  recalled  with 
delight,  and  transmitted  with  profit  and  with  pride." 

In  the  same  oration  Mr.  Blaine  used  the  follow 
ing  happy  illustrations  : 

"His  father  dying  before  he  was  two  years  old, 
Garfield's  early  life  was  one  of  privation,  but  its 
poverty  has  been  made  indelicately  and  unjustly 
prominent.  Thousands  of  readers  have  imagined 
him  as  the  ragged,  starving  child,  whose  reality 
too  often  greets  the  eye  in  the  squalid  sections  of 
our  large  cities.  General  Garfield's  infancy  and 
youth  had  none  of  this  destitution,  none  of  these 


28  LIFE    OF    JAMES    G.    ELAINE. 

pitiful  features  appealing  to  the  tender  heart,  and 
to  the  open  hand  of  charity.  He  was  a  poor  boy 
in  the  same  sense  in  which  Henry  Clay  was  a 
poor  boy  ;  in  which  Andrew  Jackson  was  a  poor 
boy  ;  in  which  Daniel  Webster  was  a  poor  boy  ; 
in  the  sense  in  which  a  large  majority  of  the 
eminent  men  of  America  in  all  generations  have 
been  poor  boys.  Before  a  great  multitude,  in  a 
public  speech,  Mr.  Webster  bore  this  testimony : 
4  It  did  not  happen  to  me  to  be  born  in  a  log  cabin, 
but  my  elder  brothers  and  sisters  were  born  in  a 
log  cabin  raised  amid  the  snow-drifts  of  New 
Hampshire,  at  a  period  so  early  that  when  the 
smoke  rose  first  from  its  rude  chimney,  and  curled 
over  the  frozen  hills,  there  was  no  similar  evidence 
of  a  white  man's  habitation  between  it  and  the 
settlements  on  the  rivers  of  Canada.  Its  remains 
still  exist.  I  make  to  it  an  annual  visit.  I  carry 
my  children  to  it  to  teach  them  the  hardships 
endured  by  the  generations  which  have  gone 
before  them.  I  love  to  dwell  on  the  tender  recol 
lections,  the  kindred  ties,  the  early  affections,  and 
the  touching  narratives  and  incidents  which  mingle 
with  all  I  know  of  this  primitive  family  abode.' ' 

At  the  age  of  eleven,  young  Elaine  was  sent  to 
school  at  Lancaster,  Ohio,  where  he  lived  in  the 
family  of  his  relative,  Thomas  Ewing,  then  Secre 
tary  of  the  Treasury.  At  this  time  he  was  well 
advanced  in  his  studies.  His  father  was  a  well- 
educated  man,  and  had  taken  much  interest  in 


ANCESTRY    AND    EARLY    LIFE.  2Q 

his  son's  'studies,  and  his  grandfather,  Neal  Gil- 
lespie,  a  very  able  and  accomplished  scholar,  never 
lost  sight  of  the  young  man's  educational  training. 
Young  Elaine  was  drilled  in  all  English  studies 
by  his  grandfather,  and  from  him  he  no  doubt  got 
his  taste  for  history,  which  was  so  early  developed, 
and  the  cultivation  of  which  he  has  retained  and 
practiced  to  the  present  time.  At  nine  years  of 
age  he  recited  to  his  grandfather  Plutarch's  Lives, 
and  it  is  said  that  at  that  early  age  the  young 
student  knew  Plutarch  almost  by  heart. 

When  he  was  a  little  more  than  thirteen  years 
of  age  he  was  sent  to  Washington,  Pa.,  to  what 
was  then  known  as  Washington  College.  He 
was  large  for  his  age,  and  was  physically  angular ; 
but  his  earnest  face  and  his  determination  to  know 
whatever  belonged  to  his  new  position,  gave  him 
a  prominent  place  at  once  among  his  school 
fellows.  He  was  a  hard  student,  and  it  was  not 
long  before  he  was  accorded  the  first  place  in 
scholarship,  and  was  the  acknowledged  leader  in 
everything  that  related  to  his  class.  Because  he 
was  not  always  "moping"  and  star-gazing  when 
away  from  his  studies,  many  thought  he  did  little 
in  the  way  of  study.  He  was  always  first  in  every 
thing,  from  the  time  he  entered  college  until  his 
graduation.  He  excelled  especially  in  literature 
and  mathematics. 

A  college  mate  of  Mr.  Elaine's,  who  was  sub 
sequently  a  distinguished  officer  in  the  Confeder- 


30  LIFE    OF   JAMES    G.  ELAINE. 

ate  army,  gives  some  interesting  particulars  of  the 
college  life  of  the  now  prominent  statesman. 
These  points,  though  not  wholly  agreeing  with 
some  here  recorded,  are  given  as  throwing  light 
on  those  early  days.  ''At  the  college,"  says  this 
biographer,  "with  two  or  three  hundred  students 
from  all  sections  of  the  country,  Blaine  was  from 
his  first  entrance  a  leader.  Endowed  with  a 
splendid  physique,  he  was  foremost  in  all  athletic 
sports.  He  is  not  remembered  as  a  hard  student 
among  his  classmates,  as  one  who  burned  the  mid 
night  oil.  It  was  not  necessary  for  him  to  do  this, 
as  he  learned  everything  quickly  and  easily,  and  his 
standing  in  his  classes  was  always  among  the  very 
first.  In  the  annual  commencements  and  the 
frequent  contests  of  the  rival  literary  societies  of 
the  college,  he  was  never  conspicuous  as  a  de 
bater  or  wrangler,  but  he  was  known  and  acknow 
ledged  as  the  power  that  managed  and  controlled 
all  these  things.  Goethe  has  said:  'One  builds 
his  talents  in  the  stillnesses  and  builds  his  char 
acter  in  the  storms  of  the  world.' 

"To  the  new  boys  and  young  freshmen  Blaine 
was  always  a  hero.  To  them  he  was  uniformly 
kind,  ever  ready  to  assist  and  advise  them,  and  to 
make  smooth  and  pleasant  their  initiation  into 
college  life.  His  handsome  person  and  neat 
attire ;  his  ready  sympathy  and  prompt  assistance ; 
his  frank,  generous  nature,  and  his  brave,  manly 
bearing,  made  him  the  best-known,  the  best-loved 


ANCESTRY    AND    EARLY    LIFE.  31 

and  the  most  popular  boy  at  college.  He  was 
the  arbiter  among  younger  boys  in  all  their  dis 
putes,  and  the  authority  with  those  of  his  own  age 
on  all  questions.  He  was  always  for  the  'under 
dog  in  the  fight.'  Like  most  college  boys,  he 
had  his  sobriquet.  Owing  to  the  fact  that  he  was 
possessed  of  a  somewhat  prominent,  though 
shapely,  proboscis,  he  received  the  appellation  of 
'Nosey  Elaine/  which  clung  to  him  through  his 
entire  college  life.  His  was  one  of  those  noses  that 
would  have  been  the  pride  and  admiration  of 
Napoleon  I,  and  would  doubtless  have  ranked 
high  and  gained  great  glory  among  the  other 
prominent  noses,  whose  owners  were  selected  by 
Napoleon  to  form  the  shining  ranks  of  his  favorite 
generals,  as  a  prominent  nose  was  considered  by 
him  a  certain  indication  of  genius  and  courage. 
After  the  usual  term  at  college  he  graduated  with 
distinguished  honor,  arid  carried  with  him  into  the 
world  the  enduring  affection  of  all  those  who  knew 
him  and  with  whom  he  was  associated  in  his  alma 
mater." 

Mr.  Elaine  graduated  when  a  little  over  seven 
teen  years  of  age.  His  class  numbered  thirty- 
three.  In  speaking  of  his  college  days,  Mr. 
Elaine  says  that  he  was  obliged  to  study  hard, 
and  that  he  was  very  quiet  and  an  industrious 
student.  His  class  was  composed  of  young  men 
who  were  determined  to  succeed,  and  the  emula 
tion  was  great,  though  friendly.  The  students 


32  LIFE    OF    JAMES    G.    ELAINE. 

did  not  strive  to  see  how  little  they  could  do,  but 
their  determination  was  to  excel  in  everything. 
So  Mr.  Elaine's  college  clays  were  not  holidays, 
as  has  been  said.  He  was  one  of  three  who  took 
the  honors.  He  was  selected  to  deliver  the 
English  salutatory  and  also  an  oration.  The  sub 
ject  of  the  latter  was  "  The  Duty  of  an  Educated 
American."  The  oration  of  nearly  forty  years  ago, 
viewed  in  the  light  of  to-day,  is  rather  remarkable 
far  a  boy  of  seventeen.  It  is  to  be  regretted  that 
the  consent  of  the  distinguished  orator  cannot  be 
obtained  to  the  publication  of  the  whole  address. 
The  prediction  in  regard  to  the  Pacific  slope,  that 
magnificent  continent  in  itself,  was  prophetic, 
and  is  here  given  : 

"The  sphere  of  labor  for  the  educated  American 
is  continually  enlarging.  But  recently  we  added 
the  vast  domain  of  the  Lone  Star  Republic  to  our 
glorious  union.  'The  war  to  which  that  act  gave 
rise,  is  now  in  victorious  progress,  and  will  not 
end  without  another  great  accession  of  territory — 
possibly  carrying  our  flag  beyond  the  Great 
American  Desert  to  the  shores  of  the  Pacific  sea. 
Where  our  armies  march  population  follows,  and 
the  field  of  duty  for  the  scholar  is  to  be  conti 
nental  in  extent,  and  as  varied  as  the  demands  of 
a  progressive  civilization." 

We  have  only  to  bear  in  mind  the  fact  that  this 
address  was  delivered  in  September,  1847,  the 
very  year  that  gold  was  discovered  in  California. 


ANCESTRY    AND    EARLY    LIFE.  35 

Those  then  members  of  the  faculty  of  Wash 
ington  College  are  all  dead,  but  nearly  all  of  Mr. 
Elaine's  school  fellows  are  still  alive.  At  the 
quarter-centennial  of  the  class,  held  in  1872, 
twenty-nine  of  the  thirty-three  were  living,  and 
every  one  of  them  was  a  man  of  position  and 
character  in  his  community.  While  Mr.  Elaine 
was  in  the  House  of  Representatives  there  were 
two  of  his  classmates  also  members,  John  V. 
Le  Moyne,  of  Illinois,  and  William  S.  Moore,  of 
Pennsylvania,  who  represented  the  old  Washing 
ton  County  District.  At  the  same  time,  James 
H.  Hopkins,  of  Pittsburg,  Pa.,  and  George  W. 
Morgan,  of  Ohio,  both  Washington  College  stu 
dents,  were  also  members  of  the  House. 

From  this  point  in  life  Mr.  Elaine  began  to 
carve  out  his  own  future.  In  those  days  the 
young  college  graduate  did  not  loaf  about  home, 
a  village  beau,  smoking  cigarettes  and  devoting 
most  of  his  time  to  his  hair — at  least  Elaine  did 
not.  He  struck  out  at  once  to  seek  his  fortune. 
It  was  a  very  lucky  strike  for  him,  for  if  he  had 
not  struck  out  as  he  did,  and  had  not  gone  to  Ken 
tucky,  and  had  not  located  near  Millersburg,  he 
might  never  have  met  Miss  Harriet  Stanwood,  a 
woman  who  will  "do  him  good,  and  not  evil,  all 
the  days  of  his  life," 

Mr.  Elaine,  after  he  left  college,  went  to  Blue 
Lick  Springs,  Kentucky,  and  became  one  of  the 
professors  in  the  Western  Military  Institute.  In 


36  LIFE    OF   JAMES    G.  I3LAINE. 

this  school  there  were  about  450  boys.     A  gentle 
man  now  living  in  Washington  (who  was  also,  by 
the  way,   an  officer  in  the  Confederate  service) 
was  a  student  in  the  school.     He  well  remembers 
Elaine,  and  describes  him  as  a  thin,  handsome, 
earnest  young   man,   with  the   same   fascinating 
manners  he  has  now.     He  was  very  popular  with 
the  boys,  who  trusted  him  and  made  friends  with 
him  from  the  first.     He  knew  the  given  names  of 
every  one,  and  he  knew  their  shortcomings  and 
their  strong  points,  and  to  this  day  he  asks  about 
this  boy  and  that  who  went  to  school  at  Blue  Lick 
Springs,  then  a  very  popular  watering-place. 

It  was  at  Millersburg,  twenty  miles  distant,  that 
Mr.  Elaine  first  met  Miss  Stan  wood,  who 
belonged  to  one  of  the  great  families  of  Maine, 
and  she  afterwards  became  his  wife.  Elaine,  after 
an  experience  of  a  year  or  two,  discovered  that 
he  was  not  born  to  be  a  school  teacher,  and  he 
returned  to  Pennsylvania,  where  he  taught  and 
studied  law. 

In  Philadelphia  an  interesting  memorial  of  his 
vocation  as  teacher  is  preserved  in  the  form  of  a 
manuscript  history  of  the  Institution  for  the 
Instruction  of  the  Blind,  in  which  Mr.  Elaine 
taught  for  two  years.  It  is  written  throughout  in  a 
neat,  angular  hand,  free  from  blots  and  erasures, 
and  complete  from  the  founding  of  the  school  to 
the  clay  on  which  the  writer  resigned.  Dr. 
Chapin,  the  president,  bears  high  testimony  to 


ANCESTRY    AND    EARLY    LIFE.  37 

the  young  professor's  capacity  and  fidelity;  and 
indicates  that  his  strong,  positive  nature,  argu 
mentative  turn  and  taste  for  research  were  already 
manifest. 

In  1853  he  removed  to  Maine,  and  located  at 
Augusta,  the  birth-place  of  his  wife.  On  arriving 
here,  Mr.  Elaine  purchased  a  half  interest  in  the 
Kennebec  Journal^  and  that  natural  bent  of  his 
mind  for  the  career  of  journalism  which  had  before 
been  displayed  only  in  occasional  articles,  showed 
its  full  force.  It  led  him  thenceforward  to  discard 
the  profession  of  teaching,  upon  which  he  had 
entered  with  such  promise  in  Philadelphia  and 
Kentucky,  and  also  the  practice  of  law,  in  which 
he  was  also  assured  of  success. 

Mr.  Elaine's  preparation  for  his  new  work  on 
the  Journal  was  in  every  way  characteristic.  He 
took  down  the  files,  or  bound  volumes  of  the 
paper  for  past  years,  and  plunged  into  an  earnest 
study  of  their  contents,  in  which  he  persevered 
until  he  had  thoroughly  mastered  not  merely  the 
tone  and  position  of  the  paper  (which  was  the 
official  organ  at  first  of  the  Whig  and  then  of  the 
Republican  party),  but  also  the  minutiae  of  poli 
tics  and  public  affairs  in  every  county  in  the 
State.  Only  his  prodigious  memory,  which  is  a 
quality  that  cannot  be  overstated  in  depicting 
him,  his  intuitive  grasp  of  facts,  and  his  keen 
comprehension,  enabled  him  fully  to  accomplish 
this  feat ;  but  it  also  serves  to  illustrate  afresh  in 


38  LIFE    OF   JAMES    G.  ELAINE. 

his    case  the  old  quotation,  "genius  is  only  an 
infinite  capacity  for  hard  work." 

Thus  equipped,  he  threw  himself  into  the  midst 
of  his  new  duties  with  his  usual  energy.  The 
Journal  was  made  a  thoroughly  live  and  aggres 
sive  paper,  but  no  one  could  deny  that  it  was  at 
the  same  time  eminently  just  both  in  praise  and 
blame.  By  its  vigor  and  fearlessness,  combined 
with  its  young  editor's  rare  insight  into  men  and 
affairs,  it  became  a  power  in  the  State,  and 
Mr.  Elaine's  reputation  spread  into  adjoining 
commonwealths  as  that  of  a  man  rapidly  rising 
into  prominence.  The  substantial  success  of 
the  paper  was  also  very  marked  under  his 
management,  and  it  was  never  more  pros 
perous. 

During  the  four  years  that  Mr.  Elaine  spent  in 
this  active  and  exciting  conduct  of  a  leading  polit 
ical  journal,  he  still  found  time,  with  his  habits  of 
rapid  work,  for  keeping  up  his  studies  of  history 
and  general  literature,  studies  which  his  powers 
of  mind  made  very  fruitful.  He  has  a  command 
of  both  these  subjects,  fresh  and  unobscured  in 
his  mind,  and  ready  to  be  put  into  instant  use, 
which  makes  him  remarkable  among  his  compeers 
in  political  life. 

In  1858,  Mr.  Elaine  was  elected  to  the  Legisla 
ture,  and  also  made  Chairman  of  the  Republican 
State  Committee,  honors  to  which  his  powers  as 
a  political  organizer  and  leader  already  fully  enti- 


ANCESTRY   AND    EARLY    LIFE.  39 

tied  him.  He  remained  Chairman  by  successive 
elections  for  many  years. 

On  relinquishing  the  conduct  of  the  Kennebec 
Journal,  he  was  beset  with  offers  on  every  side, 
by  those  who  appreciated  his  talents  and  wished 
to  gain  the  aid  of  them.  He  finally  accepted  the 
editorship  of  the  Portland  Advertiser,  -though  still 
continuing  his  residence  at  Augusta. 

About  this  time,  he  made  his  first  essay  in  a 
production  more  permanent  than  the  day-to-day 
writing  of  journalism,  and  like  his  first  manu 
script  and  recent  volume,  it  was  historical  in  char 
acter,  being  a  life  of  Hon.  Luther  Severance,  who 
had  established  the  Kennebec  Journal  nearly 
thirty  years  before.  In  a  pamphlet  of  forty  pages 
the  biographer  set  forth  with  his  unfailing  literary 
skill  the  main  facts  in  the  interesting  career  of 
this  widely-known  and  very  popular  New  England 
journalist,  who  was  also  minister  to  the  Hawaiian 
Kingdom  under  President  Taylor  in  1850.  The 
work  was  received  with  great  favor. 


CHAPTER  II. 

POLITICAL    AND    OFFICIAL    CAREER. 

GREAT  men  are  sometimes  beholden  to  occasion 
for  the  development  of  their  qualities.  Mr.  Elaine 
had  attained  prominence  in  his  adopted  State,  not 
only  as  a  writer  and  journalist,  but  also  as  a 
political  manager,  before  his  capacity  for  public 
speaking  was  suspected,  perhaps  even  by  himself. 
It  was  known,  of  course,  that  in  addition  to  his 
command  of  the  pen,  he  was  fluent  and  effective 
in  private  conference,  could  express  his  views 
clearly  and  carry  his  point  in  an  argument,  but  he 
had  rather  an  aversion  to  the  platform,  or,  at  all 
events,  a  diffidence  that  kept  him  from  appearing 
there.  In  1856  he  was  a  delegate  to  the  memor 
able  Convention  at  Philadelphia  which  nominated 
Fremont.  On  his  return  to  Augusta,  at  a  mass 
meeting  held  to  ratify  the  choice,  some  of  the  old 
citizens  contrived  to  get  him  upon  the  stand  and 
put  him  forward  simply  to  tell  the  story  of  the 
Convention,  in  response  to  a  general  request. 
The  congenial  task  soon  warmed  him  to  his  work  ; 
he  found  confidence  and  words  together,  and  the 
maiden  speech  of  his  public  career  was  a  pro 
nounced  success.  From  this  time  on  there  was  no 
40 


POLITICAL    AND    OFFICIAL    CAREER.  4! 

thought  of  confining  his  labors  to  the  sanctum 
or  the  council-chamber.  He  made  speeches  in 
nearly  every  part  of  the  State,  and  was  heartily 
greeted  as  a  solid  and  convincing  "  stump  "  orator, 
acquitting  himself  in  this  undertaking,  as  in  all  the 
others  that  have  fallen  to  his  lot,  in  a  manner 
easily  the  first  among  all  competitors.  His  aid 
was  eagerly  enlisted  in  subsequent  campaigns, 
but  it  may  be  remarked  that  this  never  led  him  to 
make  his  oratory  a  matter  of  price.  His  efforts 
were  given  freely  and  spontaneously,  for  the  good 
of  the  cause,  and  he  would  not  accept  pay  or 
allow  a  charge  to  be  made  for  hearing  him. 

The  first  public  office  held  by  Mr.  Elaine  came 
to  him  in  an  exceptional  way.  In  making  the 
newspaper  under  his  control  thoroughly  alive  and 
useful,  he  had  occasion  to  criticise  the  penal  and 
reformatory  institutions  in  Maine,  and  expose 
their  lax  and  inefficient  management,  under  an 
antiquated  system  which  needed  reform.  As  he 
never  spoke  without  entire  command  of  the  facts 
and  justice  upon  his  side,  this  well-sustained  attack 
compelled  attention  by  the  authorities  of  the  State, 
arousing,  as  it  did,  enlightened  public  opinion  to 
some  degree  of  excitement.  The  late  Lot  M. 
Morrill,  who  was  then  Governor,  took  an  adroit, 
and,  as  it  turned  out,  very  beneficial  method  of 
silencing  the  damaging  fire  of  criticism.  As  if  to 
say,  "You  seem  to  know  more  of  this  than  we 
do,"  he  threw  the  responsibility  upon  the  young 


42  LIFE    OF   JAMES    G.  ELAINE. 

editor  himself,  by  appointing  him  a  Commissioner 
to  examine  the  prisons  and  reformatories  of  Maine 
and  other  States,  and  suggest  what  improvements 
were  needed  in  the  former.  Mr.  Elaine  accepted 
the  important  trust,  and  entered  upon  it  in  a 
manner  worthy  of  himself.  He  traveled  through 
fifteen  of  the  commonwealths  of  the  Union,  closely 
observing  their  methods  of  dealing  with  the 
vicious,  and  made  an  elaborate  report,  embracing 
many  recommendations  founded  upon  his  keen, 
practical  judgment.  These  were  largely  adopted 
and  enforced.  As  a  result,  the  institutions  he  had 
denounced  were  put  upon  a  sound  and  paying 
basis,  upon  which  they  have  ever  since  remained. 
It  was  in  1858  that  Mr.  Elaine  was  sent  to  the 
Legislature,  where  he  was  to  pass  a  four  years' 
apprenticeship  in  the  science  of  legislation  in  the 
stirring  period  just  before  and  including  the  out 
break  of  the  war.  After  service  on  important 
committees,  he  was  twice  elected  Speaker  of  the 
lower  House.  Even  at  this  comparatively  early 
age,  a  little  more  than  completing  his  third  decade, 
he  showed  his  genius  for  Parliamentary  law  and 
procedure,  and  his  tact  in  the  management  of  a 
deliberative  assembly.  Fortunate,  indeed,  must 
have  been  the  legislature  which  enjoyed  the  ser 
vices  of  James  G.  Elaine  as  presiding  officer. 
The  fame  of  his  short  career  in  this  capacity  is 
still  affectionately  preserved  in  the  State,  and 
spoken  of  as  a  standard  of  comparison  which  his 


POLITICAL    AND    OFFICIAL    CAREER.  43 

successors  may  hope  to  approach  but  not  to 
equal. 

It  came  quite  naturally  that  in  1862  he  should 
emerge  into  the  wider  field  of  the  Federal  Con 
gress.  The  full  gravity  of  "storm  and  stress  " 
epoch  of  the  great  Rebellion  began  to  be  fully 
appreciated,  and  the  States  were  sending  up  their 
strongest  men  to  the  National  Councils  to  grap 
ple  with  the  problems  of  armament,  defense,  the 
sustaining  of  the  nation's  credit  and  the  other 

o 

emergencies  of  vast  and  unexpected  civil  war. 
General  Garfield  was  recalled  from  the  glorious 
front  of  battle,  sorely  against  his  will,  to  bear  a 
more  arduous  duty  in  meeting  the  secret  foes  of 
the  Union  in  the  halls  of  the  Capitol.  Thaddeus 
Stevens,  John  A.  Bingham,  Boutwell,  Conkling, 
Julian,  Hayes,  and  others  who  were  afterwards  to 
play  more  noted,  but  sometimes  less  noble  parts, 
then  mostly  in  the  first  flush  of  their  strength  and 
manhood,  and  united  by  generous  enthusiasm  in 
one  great  cause,  were  there.  The  election  of 
Mr.  Blaine  could  not  be  otherwise  than  gratifying 
to  his  friend,  President  Lincoln,  who  leaned  upon 
him  almost  implicitly,  in  regard  to  the  political 
movement  and  sentiments  in  the  far  Northern 
Pine-Tree  State,  which  was  furnishing,  without 
stint,  her  means  and  the  strength  of  her  stalwart 
sons  by  land  and  sea  to  the  defense  of  the 
Union. 

During  his  first  year  in  Congress  and  part  of 


44  LIFE    OF    JAMES    G.  ELAINE. 

the  second,  Mr.  Elaine  devoted  himself  entirely 
to  close  observation  of  the  occurrences  which 
passed  before  him.  The  casual  spectator  would 
have  seen  at  his  desk  only  a  young  man  of  some 
what  notable  appearance,  his  dark  hair  and  beard 
still  unsnowed  by  time  and  care,  with  hawk-like 
glance  following  every  detail  of  the  public  busi 
ness,  and  in  other  respects,  simply  loyal  to  the 
lead  of  the  eminent  men  on  his  side  of  the  House, 
who  soon  came  to  know  and  rely  upon  him,  if  they 
had  not  previously  done  so. 

About  this  time  ensued  an  episode  which  may 
be  mentioned  not  for  its  intrinsic  importance,  but 
because  malicious  tongues  have  dwelt  upon  it, 
and  because  there  is  nothing  which  needs  to  be 
covered  up  or  slurred  over  in  the  life  of  the 
Republican  candidate.  Congress  passed  a  con 
scription  law,  for  which  Mr.  Elaine  voted,  and  in 
which  there  was  singularly  enough,  no  exemption 
of  Senators  and  Representatives  from  the  draft. 
His  name  went  into  the  box  with  the  rest  in  his 
district,  and  was  one  of  the  first  to  be  drawn. 
What  was  he  to  do  ?  The  brilliant  orator  and 
statesman,  whose  organizing  powers  were  so  much 
needed  in  the  civil  contests  at  home,  -would  have 
been  sadly  and  absurdly  lost  to  the  cause,  tramp 
ing  through  the  far  South  with  a  musket  over  his 
shoulder.  If  he  used  his  influence  to  secure  a 
commission,  as  he  might  easily  have  done,  a  raw 
and  inexperienced  officer  would  have  displaced 


POLITICAL   AND    OFFICIAL    CAREER.  45 

some  one  better  fitted  for  military  command. 
Mr.  Elaine's  abundant  courage  needed  no  proof 
then  or  at  any  time  afterward.  Instead  of  pleading 
any  exemption,  he  saw  that  a  recruit  was  secured 
with  his  own  means  to  fill  the  place  in  the  quota 
of  Maine,  and  continued  the  legislative  work  to 
which  his  country  had  given  him  a  prior  call. 

When  re-elected  to  the  Thirty-ninth  Congress, 
Mr.  Elaine  laid  aside  by  degrees  his  role  of 
reserve  and  observation,  and  moved  up  to  the 
position  to  which  his  wonderful  gifts  entitled  him. 
He  was  still  a  young  man,  but  with  sagacity  and 
indeed  experience  far  beyond  most  of  his  elders 
in  years.  He,  as  before  said,  was  the  trusted 
friend  of  the  President,  in  whose  second  candi 
dacy  and  election,  as  in  his  first,  he  materially 
aided.  The  gradual  withdrawal  of  the  elder  men, 
either  by  death  or  by  promotion  to  the  Senate, 
gave  the  young  blood  in  the  House  a  chance  to 
assert  itself  without  ungraciousness,  and  it  was 
by  normal  growth,  and  not  by  usurpation  or  audac 
ity,  that  Mr.  Elaine  found  himself  before  the  end 
of  his  third  term  regarded  as  the  leader  of  the 
majority.  When  the  Forty-first  Congress  met, 
the  choice  fell  upon  him,  by  common  consent,  for 
the  important  post  of  the  Speakersjiip,  and  he 
advanced  to  the  place  to  which  nearly  all  his  pre 
paration  had  tended, 

The  fame  of  his  six  years'  service  in  this  exalted 
station  is  the  world's  property.  It  was  not  a  chair 


46  LIFE    OF    JAMES    G.    ELAINE. 

of  roses,  or  at  least  the  roses  were  thickly  set  with 
thorns.  It  is  a  fierce  light  which  beats  upon  the 
Speaker's  dais,  and  Mr.  Elaine  was  too  fearless 
and  positive  a  man  not  to  meet  all  the  responsi 
bilities  of  his  post  to  the  utmost.  He  held  the 
balance  with  a  firm  hand  between  his  own  party, 
accustomed  to  power  since  the  war  and  impatient 
of  check,  and  a  growing  and  turbulent  minority, 
led  by  able  men,  and  reckless  in  both  legiti 
mate  and  illegitimate  opposition.  One  day  the 
Speaker  would  be  assailed  by  that  lawless  guerilla, 
"Ben."  Butler,  then  posing  as  a  Radical  of  the 
Radicals  ;  the  next  day,  or  for  a  number  of  days, 
the  Democrats  would  be  "filibustering"  by  tactics 
of  delay  against  some  measure  obnoxious  to  them, 
under  the  leadership  of  Mr.  Randall,  Mr.  Cox  and 
others,  masters  of  all  the  arts  of  irritation  and 
bedevilment,  of  an  adversary. 

Mr.  Elaine's  sheer  endurance  in  this  as  in 
many  other  crises  was  something  to  attract  admir 
ation  and  surprise.  He  always  appeared  in  the 
Speaker's  chair  fresh,  alert  and  even  smiling  ;  his 
voice  never  broke,  nor  did  his  hand  falter,  with 
all  the  strain  to  which  he  was  subjected  ;  and 
after  remaining  in  his  place  for  hours  and  hours, 
until  the  members  upon  the  floor,  though 
relieving  each  other  often,  and  using  all  possible 
means  to  keep  up  strength,  were  hoarse  and 
exhausted  with  fatigue,  he  would  stroll  home 
with  his  usual  interest  in  the  sights  and  sounds 


POLITICAL    AND    OFFICIAL    CAREER.  47 

around  him,  take  some  very  light  refreshment,  and 
proceed  to  make  up  his  arrears  of  sleep.  It  may 
here  be  recorded,  that  during  Mr.  Elaine's  whole 
service  of  six  years  as  Speaker,  he  was  never 
absent  a  day  from  his  post. 

The  same  trait  was  afterward  visible  in  the 
extraordinary  forty-eight  hours'  session  in  which 
the  Senate,  regardless  of  its  usual  steady  habits 
and  the  age  of  many  of  its  members,  once 
indulged  during  his  term  there.  He  stayed  the 
proceedings  through,  and  after  this  long  vigil, 
when  his  brother  Senators  emerged  broken 
down  either  by  their  arduous  efforts  in  debate 
or  other  causes,  he  moved  off  with  almost 
boyish  lightness,  conversing  interestedly  with 
friends. 

This  endurance  is  not  merely  the  gift  of 
nature,  the  result  of  his  grand  physique.  Mr. 
Elaine  has  considered  it  a  part  of  his  duty  in  pub 
lic  life  to  keep  himself  up  to  the  maximum  of  effi 
ciency,  to  offer  to  his  constituents  and  the  country 
only  the  efforts  of  a  sound  mind  in  a  sound  body. 
With  this  object  he  has  not  merely  refrained  from 
damaging  excess,  which  indeed  would  be  repellent 
to  him,  but  he  attends  to  those  details  of  hygiene 
and  exercise,  which  great  men  are  prone  to  con 
sider  beneath  them,  training  himself,  as  it  were, 
like  an  athlete  to  run  the  race  or  bear  the  bur 
dens  imposed  upon  him.  It  may  be  noticed,  in 
studying  his  career,  that  he  has  probably  lost  less 


48  LIFE    OF    JAMES    G.    ELAINE. 

time  by  sickness  or  debility  than  any  public  man 
that  can  be  mentioned. 

His  temperance  may  be  referred  to  in  the  same 
connection^.  He  never  took  a  drink  of  the  so- 
called  "hard  liquors,"  whisky,  brandy,  or  other 
spirits  in  his  life,  and  probably  does  not  know  the 
taste  of  them.  He  is  unaffectedly  simple  in  his 
habits,  in  food  as  in  dress,  and,  without  making  a 
parade  of  rule  and  system,  works,  sleeps  and 
recreates,  when  not  interrupted  by  some  demand 
that  it  would  be  wrong  to  neglect,  with  the  regu 
larity  of  a  day-laborer  or  a  monk.  This  may  not 
wholly  please  those  who  think  that  great  powers 
should  always  be  accompanied  with  a  kind  of  wild 
license  or  excess,  and  that  a  man  of  affairs  should 
be  exempted  from  all  the  restraints  of  common 
and  well-ordered  lives  ;  but  sensible  people  will 
not  be  apt  to  think  less  of  Mr.  Elaine  on  account 
of  these  habits. 

He  displayed,  of  course,  qualities  higher  than 
endurance  in  the  Speaker's  chair.  His  wisdom 
and  honesty  in  keeping  clear  of  the  temporary 
madness  of  the  ''salary  grab  bill,"  when  so  many 
reputable  men  seemed  to  be  thrown  off  their  bal 
ance  by  the  prospect  of  a  few  thousand  dollars 
back  pay  more  than  that  to  which  they  were  enti 
tled,  may  be  cited  as  an  instance.  It  will  be 
remembered  that  on  the  ist  of  March,  1873,  the 
bill  was  before  the  House  increasing  the  salary 
of  the  President  to  $50,000,  the  Justices  of  the 


POLITICAL    AND    OFFICIAL    CAREER.  49 

Supreme  Court,  Vice  President,  Speaker  and 
members  of  the  Cabinet  to  $10,000;  and  mem 
bers  of  Congress  to  $6,500,  with  the  proviso  that 
the  increase  should  begin  with  the  other  officers 
on  the  4th  of  March,  1873,  but  with  Senators 
and  Representatives  from  the  beginning  of  the 
existing  Congress.  Mr.  Elaine  readily  detected 
the  bearing  of  the  measure.  He  called  the  atten 
tion  of  the  House  to  the  fact  that  upon  the  last 
previous  increase  of  salaries,  that  of  the  Speaker 
was  adjusted  on  the  same  plan  as  that  of  the  Vice 
President  and  members  of  the  Cabinet.  He 
thought  that  adjustment  should  not  be  disturbed, 
and  he  therefore  asked  unanimous  consent  to 
insert  the  word  "  hereafter  "  in  reference  to  the 
Speaker's  pay. 

Mr.  Randall  objected,  and  Mr.  S.  S.  Cox 
remarked,  "That  saves  the  reputation  of  the 
House." 

Mr.  Elaine  was  of  no  mind  to  shoulder  any  part 
of  the  odium  he  saw  the  House  was  incurring. 
He  earnestly  appealed  to  Mr.  Randall  to  withdraw 
the  objection,  and,  as  it  was  scarcely  courteous  to 
thrust  upon  an  officer  money  which  he  insisted 
on  declining,  Mr.  Randall  consented.  The  Speaker 
promptly  interlined  the  saving  word.  Awaking 
to  the  virtual  repudiation  thus  made  of  the  House's 
action,  Mr.  Farnsworth  hastily  interposed  another 
objection,  but  too  late.  The  Speaker  ruled  him 
out  of  order,  and,  having  thus  cut  himself  clear 


5O  LIFE    OF   JAMES    G.  BLAINE. 

of  it  without  showing  any  open  disrespect  to 
the  House  or  his  party  associates,  put  the  bill 
to  a  vote.  The  effect  which  its  adoption 
produced  upon  public  opinion  need  not  be  here 
detailed. 


CHAPTER  III. 

PERSONAL   TRAITS    AND    CHARACTERISTICS. 

Tins  seems  an  appropriate  place  to  speak  of 
some  of  those  elements  of  character  which  have 
given  Mr.  Elaine  a  general  popularity  very  rare 
in  the  case  of  one  so  aggressive  and  so  devoted 
to  principle. 

One  of  these  traits  for  which  he  has  not  been 
generally  credited,  though  one  of  the  most  attrac 
tive,  is  his  keen  humor.  It  would  be  strange  if 
a  man  of  such  wide  and  varied  gifts  lacked  this 
one  in  his  make-up,  but  Mr.  Elaine  has  always 
kept  his  nimble  wit  in  such  subjection  to  his  more 
solid  qualities  that  he  has  wholly  escaped  the 
dangerous  reputation  of  the  jester,  and  in  public 
life  only  the  lambent  play  of  a  sarcasm,  as  fleet  as 
lightning,  gives  token  of  an  almost  steady  illumi 
nation  that  is  reserved  for  the  amenities  of  private 
life. 

Intimacy  with  Mr.  Elaine  would  well  repay  a 
Boswell  or  a  gleaner  of  table-talk,  but  his  pub 
lished  speeches  and  debates  would  have  to  be 
carefully  searched  for  the  quick  flashes  of  merri 
ment  which  discomfited  a  troublesome  adversary, 
or  established  the  orator's  position  triumphantly, 

51 


52  LIFE    OF   JAMES    G.  ELAINE. 

and  then  they  would  suffer  by  being  detached 
from  the  context  and  the  occasion.  Mr.  Elaine's 
characteristic  readiness  and  decision  of  speech 
are  well  exhibited  in  all  of  them. 

He  has  a  fund  of  quaint  anecdotes,  almost  equal 
to  that  of  President  Lincoln  himself,  which  he  can 
tell  with  inimitable  effect,  or  use  briefly  to  clinch 
an  argument  or  illustrate  a  point. 

In  a  debate  with  Senator  Thurman  over  the 
troublesome  question  of  the  debt  of  the  Pacific 
Railroads,  Mr.  Elaine  remarked:  ''The  Senator 
says  that  if  they  would  agree  to  pay  $10,000,000 
a  year  he  would  not  make  a  conclusive  bargain  as 
respects  the  debt.  It  does  seem  to  me,  with 
entire  respect  for  the  Senator,  that  he  has  seemed 
to  place  himself  in  the  position  of  the  man  in  the 
story  who  was  so  contrary  that  he  would  not  allow 
himself  to  do  as  he  had  a  mind  to." 

And  further  on  he  drew  the  additional  parallel : 
"If  we  let  go  this  company  on  their  simply 
paying  their  honest  debts,  we  will  be  as  bad  as 
the  young  man  in  London  who  succeeded  to  his 
father's  chancery  practice,  and  when  the  father 
asked  the  son  about  the  famous  case  of  Smith  vs. 
Jones,  the  son  said,  *  I  settled  that  yesterday 
amicably  and  fairly  to  both  parties.'  '  Oh  !  you 
young  blockhead,'  said  he,  'I  have  lived  on  that 
suit  for  the  last  twenty  years.' ' 

His  command  of  general  literature  is  equally 
complete.  In  one  of  the  lively  verbal  duels  with 


PERSONAL   TRAITS    AND    CHARACTERISTICS.         53 

which  he  disturbed  the  dullness  of  the  Senate,  he 
remarked  to  Mr.  Eaton,  of  Connecticut : 

"  I  have  read  a  great  deal  from  the  Senator  this 
morning,  and  I  will  read  more  before  I  get 
through." 

MR.  EATON.  Perhaps  that  will  be  the  best 
part  of  your  speech,  except  what  you  read  from 
Webster. 

MR.  ELAINE.  I  am  obliged  to  the  Senator 
for  the  exception.  It  is  equal  to  Dogberry's 
injunction,  "Put  God  first." 

The  same  debate  (in  May,  1879)  was  marked 
by  his  great  oratorical  conflict  with  the  late  Senator 
Hill,  of  Georgia,  which  with  the  substitution  of 
more  rapid  modern  methods  for  the  stately  for 
mality  of  old  times,  may  be  compared  to  the  test 
of  strength  between  Webster  and  Hayne.  Pass 
ing  over  for  a  moment  the  more  serious  passages, 
it  will  be  remembered  that  Senator  Hill  had 
written  to  the  voters  of  Troup  county  when  elected 
to  the  Secession  Convention,  "  I  will  consent  to  the 
dissolution  of  the  Union  as  I  would  consent  to  the 
death  of  my  father,  never  from  choice,  only  from 
necessity,  and  then  in  sorrow  and  sadness  of 
heart." 

Mr.  Elaine  read  the  ordinance  of  secession 
adopted  by  the  Convention,  and  then  continued, 
amidst  the  uncontrollable  laughter  of  even  those 
who  were  hit  hardest: 

"That  was  the  ordinance  which  the  Senator  from 


54  LIFE    OF   JAMES    G.  ELAINE. 

Georgia  said  to  the  people  of  Troup  he  would 
consent  to  as  he  would  to  the  death  of  his  father, 
and  the  ordinance  which  the  evening  after  it  was 
passed  so  filled  his  heart  with  sadness  that  he  put 
out  the  lights  in  his  room  and  would  not  make  a 
speech  to  a  crowd  outside  serenading  him.  I  have 
read  the  yeas  and  nays  on  that,  and  what  is  my  un 
bounded  surprise  to  find  that  the  Senator  from 
Georgia  himself  voted  for  the  ordinance.  Here 
he  is,  *  Hill,  of  Troup.'  On  the  call  of  the  yeas  and 
nays  there  were  208  in  favor  of  the  ordinance  of 
secession  and  89  against  it,  and  in  the  89  were 
Alexander  H.  Stephens  and  Herschel  V.  Johnson, 
who  had  that  very  year  run  for  Vice-President  on 
the  Douglass  ticket.  The  Senator  from  Georgia 
[Mr.  Hill],  who  would  consent  to  it  just  as  he 
would  the  death  of  his  father,  made  up  his  mind 
that  if  two  hundred  and  eight  men  wanted  to 
murder  the  old  man  he  would  join  with  them. 
[Great  laughter  and  applause.]  Rather  than  be 
in  a  minority  he  would  join  the  murderous  crowd 
[laughter],  and  be  a  parricide." 

Immediately  afterward  occurred  a  tart  personal 
passage,  which  further  proved  Mr.  Elaine's  perfect 
coolness  and  readiness,  and  is  also  important  as 
being  his  own  account  of  an  event  which  is  some 
times  unfairly  used  to  his  discredit,  although  any 
public  man  had  a  perfect  right,  at  the  time  referred 
to,  to  decide  for  himself,  and  upon  the  advice  of 
trusted  friends  (as  did  General  Garfield),  whether 


PERSONAL   TRAITS   AND    CHARACTERISTICS.        55 

his  services  were  most  needed  in  the  field  or  in 
the  forum.  Soldiers  were  many  ;  experienced  and 
trustworthy  statesmen  and  legislators  were  few, 
and  it  is  no  possible  reflection  upon  Mr.  Elaine's 
courage  that  he  followed  the  duty  which  seemed 
nearest  to  hand,  and  waived  the  military  glory  won 
by  many  far  less  worthy.  In  a  tone  of  good-humored 
raillery  he  remarked  that  the  Senators  on  the 
other  side  of  the  Chamber  were  "  dragged  into 
secession  "  because  "  their  States  went,  and  the 
honorable  Senator  from  Kentucky  [Mr.  Williams] 
was  dragged  into  it  because  his  State  did  not  go." 
"  I  did  not  hire  a  substitute,"  was  Mr.  Williams' 
courteous  retort,  and  the  report  continues  thus : 

MR.  ELAINE.  He  says  he  did  not  hire  a  substitute. 
That  is  a  piece  of  wit  which  I  am  glad  to  notice.  The 
Senators  from  Kentucky  have  twice,  both  of  them,  taken 
a  turn  when  I  was  on  the  floor  to  say  they  did  not  hire  a* 
substitute,  as  if  that  was  something  very  pungent.  In 
the  conscription  law,  passed  by  a  Congress  of  which  I 
was  a  member,  for  the  first  time  in  the  history  of  the  Gov 
ernment  there  was  no  exemption  of  Senators  or  Repre 
sentatives  from  the  draft.  I  was  a  younger  man  then 
than  I  am  now,  and  among  the  very  first  men  drafted  in 
my  district  I  was  one.  I  did  not  resign  my  seat  in  Con 
gress.  I  did  send  a  substitute.  What  would  the  honora 
ble  Senator  have  done  ? 

MR.  WILLIAMS.     I  should  have  gone. 

MR.  ELAINE.     You  would  have  gone  ? 

MR.  WILLIAMS.     I  would  have  gone  to  the  fight. 

MR.  ELAINE.      I  am  glad  you  would   have  gone  in 

4 


56  LIFE    OF   JAMES    G.  ELAINE. 

any  way  on  the  Union  side.  But  the  Senator  was  not 
drafted,  and  he  went  and  fought  against  the  Government, 
even  when  his  State  did  not  secede.  I  consider  this  ref 
erence  to  a  substitute  as  a  first-class  sarcasm ;  and  as  the 
Senators  from  Kentucky  have  each  tried  their  hands  on  it 
only  twice,  I  hope  they  will  repeat  it  again. 

MR.  WILLIAMS.  When  my  country  calls  for  my 
services  in  the  army,  I  am  ready. 

MR.  ELAINE.  I  am  not  disputing  it.  I  only  say  the 
honorable  Senator  went  into  the  rebellion  because  his 
State  did  not  go. 

MR.  WILLIAMS.  I  should  like  to  ask  the  Senator 
did  his  substitute  fight  ? 

MR.  ELAINE.  No.  I  found  out  afterward  that  he 
was  a  Democrat.  [Laughter.]  I  was  inveigled  into  hiring 
him  without  knowing  who  he  was. 

MR.  EATON.     Did  he  sell  himself  for  half  price  ? 

MR.  ELAINE.  I  do  not  know.  I  paid  full  price  for 
him,  more  than  an  average  Democrat  was  worth  in  the 
war.  [Great  laughter.] 

Passing  to  more  elevated  traits,  Mr.  Elaine's 
undoubted  courage  in  his  convictions  requires  a 
a  word  of  praise.  It  is  this  which  makes  his  career 
and  his  place  in  the  affections  of  so  many  the 
more  remarkable.  He  is  no  trimmer.  No  one 
is  in  doubt  where  to  find  him  on  many  of  the 
questions  of  the  day,  After  experience  with  the 
wavering,  non-committal  and  uncertain  politicians, 
it  is  refreshing  to  find  one  public  man  who  speaks 
his  mind  freely  and  unmistakably,  and  adheres 
to  what  he  has  said.  Mr.  Elaine's  views  on  com- 


PERSONAL   TRAITS    AND    CHARACTERISTICS.        57 

merce,  the  tariff,  finance  and  the  other  questions 
before  the  public  are  as  familiar  as  his  own  world- 
famous  name.  He  does  not  deal  in  vague  gene 
ralities,  or  refrain  from  action  on  any  subject  of 
importance  because  his  interests  may  conflict  with 
his  duty.  It  is  evident  that  this  quality  is  appre 
ciated  by  his  countrymen.  They  prefer  a  leader 
who  expresses  all  his  intentions,  even  though  they 
may  not  perfectly  coincide  with  all  of  them,  over 
one  who  would  keep  his  supporters  in  the  dark 
as  to  his  real  purposes  and  ideas  as  long  and  as 
largely  as  possible. 

A  special  display  of  this  unfailing  courage,  the 
need  and  utility  of  which  was  perhaps  not  fully 
understood  by  all  at  the  time  it  occurred,  was 
given  by  Mr.  Elaine  in  the  House  of  Representa 
tives,  and  afterward  in  the  Senate,  during  the 
years  that  followed  the  ascendency  of  the  Demo 
crats  throughout  the  South,  and  consequently  in 
the  lower  branch  of  Congress.  Some  of  his  op 
ponents  have  criticised  his  tactics  while  leader  of 
the  Republican  minority,  and  afterward  Senator 
from  Maine,  as  uselessly  irritating  a  "  waving  of 
the  bloody  shirt,"  a  revival  of  war  issues,  and  so 
on.  Even  his  supporters  may  have  wondered 
why  there  should  be  so  much  debate  about  Ander- 
sonville,  Jeff.  Davis  and  the  solid  South.  But 
Mr.  Elaine  had  a  purpose.  A  Democratic  major 
ity  saw  itself  almost  in  reach  of  the  control  of  the 
White  House  and  the  Capitol  for  the  first  time 


58  LIFE    OF   JAMES    G.  ELAINE. 

since  the  war.  It  was  largely  the  old  majority 
that  had  obtained  before  the  war,  unchanged  and 
unrepentant.  It  expected  once  more  to  dominate 
the  North  by  means  of  an  intimidated  negro  vote, 
as  it  had  before  done  by  the  slave-holders'  vote. 
It  was  therefore  imperative  that  some  one  should 
meet  this  pretension  from  the  very  start,  and 
teach  the  ex-confederates  that  the  day  of  Northern 
doughfaces  had  forever  passed.  Mr.  Elaine  fear 
lessly  took  up  the  gage,  and  for  three  or  four 
years  bore  the  brunt  of  the  verbal  battle  which 
raged  backward  and  forward,  and  which  incident 
ally  tore  the  masks  from  the  faces  of  all  secret 
sympathizers  with  rebellion  or  slavery,  chastened 
their  pride,  and  largely  contributed  to  awake  the 
North  to  the  danger  of  this  new  kind  of  "slave- 
ocracy"  maintained  by  " bulldozing."  Mr.  Elaine 
was  also  fully  up  with  the  current  topics  of  the 
time.  He  exposed,  with  inimitable  satire,  the  pre 
tence  that  the  South  was  suffering  from  "bayonets 
at  the  polls,"  when  there  were,  as  he  showed,  only 
eleven  hundred  and  fifty-five  Federal  soldiers  in 
the  whole  region,  less  than  one  for  each  county, 
or  one  for  each  seven  hundred  square  miles.  He 
denounced  the  violent  course  of  refusing  appro 
priations  for  the  whole  army  unless  the  election 
laws  were  repealed.  He  showed,  with  his  usual 
clearness  and  masterly  presentation  of  figures, 
that  the  white  voters  of  the  South  really  returned 
twice  as  many  representatives  in  proportion  to 


PERSONAL   TRAITS    AND    CHARACTERISTICS.        59 

their  own  number  as  the  white  voters  of  the  North 
did,  and  that  thus  alone  the  Democratic  majority 
was  obtained  in  Congress.  The  necessity  for  this 
painful  struggle  has  passed  away ;  but  it  had  to 
come  at  the  time  it  did,  and  Mr.  Elaine  was  there  to 
meet  it.  The  South  is  now  sending  up  a  new  class 
of  men,  intent  more  upon  the  future  than  the  past, 
and  the  real  progress  of  that  section  has  no  more 
earnest  friend  and  helper  than  Mr.  Elaine. 

Above  all,,  but  most  indescribable,  is  Mr.  Elaine's 
gracious  and  winning  personality,  which  captivates 
even  those  who  would  be  his  enemies.  He  was 
afterward  on  friendly  terms  with  those  to  whom 
he  dealt  the  keenest  blows  in  the  hot  debates  of 
1876-79.  The  wounds  then  inflicted  did  not 
rankle,  for  Mr.  Elaine  was  scrupulous  in  confining 
himself  only  to  the  public  acts  and  records  of  his 
adversaries,  and  was  always  within  parliamentary 
courtesies. 

There  are  contrasts  in  Mr.  Elaine  which  might 
not  be  suspected  by  those  with  a  merely  surface 
knowledge  of  his  character,  but  which  are  essen 
tial  to  a  study  of  the  man.  Thus  he  produces 
upon  many  the  impression  of  being  entirely  off 
hand  and  dashing  in  his  methods,  one  whom  it 
would  be  almost  impossible  to  tie  down  to  the 
drudgery  of  exact  observation  and  the  collation 
of  facts.  Even  his  friends  are  apt  to  imagine 
that  his  triumphs  are  due  to  flashes  of  intuition, 
and  that  it  is  recklessness  and  luck  which  carry 


00  LIFE    OF   JAMES    G.  ELAINE. 

him  through  so  many  difficult  positions  without 
loss  of  prestige  or  the  perpetration  of  damaging 
blunders. 

In  reality  there  are  few,  even  among  the  patient 
plodders  or  professed  book-worms,  so  careful  and 
thorough  in  preparation  as  he.  Though  this 
work  is  generally  done  by  him  with  the  same 
rapidity  and  energy  as  his  more  public  efforts,  it 
is  unsparing  in  its  intensity  while  it  lasts,  as  may 
be  judged  from  the  results.  Who,  during  his  long 
career  in  Congress,  has  caught  him  erring  or  mis 
representing  in  his  statements  about  men  and. 
events  ?  Almost  every  word  of  his  has  been 
closely  scanned  by  hostile  eyes,  anxious  to  detect 
and  publish  any  flaw  ;  he  has  had  occasion  to 
make  assertions  sure  to  provoke  controversy  and 
attempted  denial.  Yet  in  the  few  instances  when 
adversaries  have  ventured  to  take  issue  with  him, 
he  has  been  so  well  possessed  not  merely  of  the 
truth,  but  of  the  proofs  of  it,  that,  while  never 
pretending  to  superhuman  infallibility,  he  has 
been  able  to  overthrow  them  completely  on  all 
substantial  points  involved. 

The  same  observations  apply  to  his  literary 
tasks.  Those  near  him  during  the  preparation 
of  "Twenty  Years  of  Congress,"  can  testify  that 
he  was  as  keen  in  the  hunt  for  even  the  smallest 
fact  which  was  to  have  place  in  the  narrative,  as 
if  the  success  of  the  whole  turned  upon  it.  Time 
and  again  men  of  less  conscientious  thoroughness 


PERSONAL   TRAITS    AND    CHARACTERISTICS.        6 1 

would  have  been  tempted  to  discard  some  obscure 
detail  as  not  worth  clearing  up,  or  to  state  it  with 
a  guess  at  the  truth  ;  but  not  so  Mr.  Elaine.  If 
the  missing  fact  was  to  be  run  to  earth  anywhere 
within  the  limits  of  the  Government  archives  or 
the  memory  of  the  living  he  would  not  let  it 
escape  him.  The  first  volume,  covering  a  period 
of  intense  feeling  and  much  dispute,  has  been 
before  the  public  for  months.  Not  one  of  its 
critics  has  thought  of  impugning  its  accuracy. 

His  great  services  to  the  Republican  party  in 
Maine  spoke  of  the  same  characteristic.  For 
twenty  years  he  was  chairman  of  the  Republican 
State  Committee,  and  "organized  victory"  in  a 
succession  of  notable  campaigns.  It  was  only 
during  the  latter  part  of  the  time  that  he  emerged 
as  the  eloquent,  "magnetic"  leader;  he  was 
never  a  "  Boss  "  in  the  sense  of  those  who  have 
dominated  politics  in  some  States  and  cities.  His 
success  was  due  to  hard,  unremitting  work  in  the 
committee-rooms,  and  in  canvassing  every  county. 
It  is  said  that  he  had  full  lists  of  the  electors,  with 
their  probable  standing  indicated,  before  each 
campaign,  and  that  he  could  therefore  predict, 
with  almost  absolute  accuracy,  the  results  of  the 
voting. 

There  is  a  lesson  in  all  this  which  would  make 
it  useful  to  repeat,  even  were  it  not  needed  to 
correct  a  misapprehension  about  Mr.  Elaine's 
methods.  There  are  men  of  less  acquirements 


62  LIFE    OF   JAMES    G.  ELAINE. 

who  would  find  it  well  to  imitate  his  patient -toil  in 
the  seclusion  of  the  study,  before  essaying  showy 
feats  in  public  life. 

Another  contrast  is  that  between  his  hearty, 
free  and  open  manner  at  all  times  when  it  is 
proper  to  unbend, — familiar  with  friends,  winning 
to  strangers,  disarming  even  to  enemies, — and  the 
dignity  which  no  man  assumes  with  more  grace  in 
ceremonials  of  state,  or  when  required  to  repel 
impertinence.  It  is  safe  to  say  that  the  boldest  of 
his  intimates  never  felt  tempted  to  presume  upon 
his  acquaintance  with  Mr.  Elaine.  Without  any 
oppressive  stateliness,  there  is  about  him  an  im 
pression  of  solid  worth  and  power  that  somehow 
silences  the  rude  jest,  checks  too  close  approach  and 
inspires  respect.  In  private,  he  is  the  most  unaf 
fected  of  men,  cheerful,  companionable,  and  one 
with  those  about  him  ;  in  public,  his  bearing  is 
always  fitted  to  the  duty  he  has  to  perform  and 
the  station  which  he  may  fill. 

It  is  certain  that  nothing  could  be  more  distaste 
ful  to  Mr.  Elaine  than  the  idea  of  dragging  private 
religious  belief,  as  an  argument  pro  or  con,  into 
the  heated  discussion  of  a  political  campaign.  He 
would  oppose  the  use  of  any  reference  to  religion 
to  bring  voters  to  his  standard,  and  he  has  ever 
refrained  from  appealing  to  any  sectarian  preju 
dice  against  an  adversary.  But,  as  it  is  said  else 
where,  there  is  nothing  in  his  politics,  religion  or 
daily  life,  the  Republican  candidate  desires  to  con- 


PERSONAL   TRAITS    AND    CHARACTERISTICS.        63 

ceal,  or  which  needs  to  be  explained  away.  The 
facts  of  Mr.  Elaine's  history  on  the  religious  side 
are  largely  a  matter  of  record,  and  they  may  be 
simply  stated  thus  : 

As  the  daughter  of  an  old  and  respected  Roman 
Catholic  family,  his  mother  was  naturally  a  sincere 
and  life-long  member  of  that  body,  and  honored  it 
by  her  life  as  a  devout  Christian  woman.  Her 
son  has  said,  in  a  letter  often  republished,  that 
nothing  would  induce  him  to  utter  a  word  against 
his  mother's  faith,  and  he  will  never  permit  him 
self  to  be  drawn  into  one  of  those  religious  con 
troversies  which  generally  do  so  little  good  and  so 
much  harm. 

Following  the  liberty  of  conscience  which  pre 
vails  in  this  favored  land,  Mr.  Elaine  followed  in 
the  footsteps  of  his  Protestant  ancestors,  and  has 
been  for  nearly  twenty-eight  years  a  member  of 
the  Congregational  Church,  having  been  confirmed 
in  the  city  of  Augusta,  in  the  edifice  where  the 
some  rite  has  since  been  performed  for  all  his  six 
children.  He  has  given  liberally  of  his  means  for 
church  purposes,  as  the  records  of  the  congrega 
tions  both  of  Washington  and  in  Augusta  will 
indicate  to  those  curious  enough  to  make  the 
inquiries. 

When  at  the  National  Capitol,  and  almost  over 
whelmed  with  work  and  care,  he  may  have  some 
times  been  pardonably  absent  from  the  sanctuary  ; 
but  his  pastor  at  Augusta  bears  witness,  as  many 


64  LIFE    OF   JAMES    G.    DLAINE. 

others  might  do,  that  church-going  is  to  him  a 
sacred  obligation,  and  that  he  and  his  family,  and 
the  stranger  within  his  gates,  unless  for  grave 
cause  preventing,  are  to  be  found  each  Lord's 
Day  filling  their  accustomed  pew  and  joining  in 
the  services.  Earnestness  without  parade  or 
bigotry  may  well  be  given  as  a  description  of  Mr. 
Elaine's  religious  life. 

The  Yorktown  Centennial  afforded,  perhaps,  the 
only  interlude  in  Mr.  Elaine's  arduous  and  sombre 
experience  as  Secretary  of  State  ;  although  per 
plexing  at  the  time,  there  was  an  element  of  humor 
in  the  careful  handling  necessary  of  the  suscep 
tibilities  of  the  German  and  French  guests  on  that 
occasion.  The  descendants  of  Lafayette  and  of 
Steuben  showed  no  such  tendency  to  coalesce  in 
the  glory  of  a  common  cause  as  did  their  ancestors 
a  hundred  years  before.  It  may  be  said  to  their 
credit  that  their  pride  did  not  seem  to  be  personal, 
but  national  ;  yet  the  effect  was  the  same,  so  long 
as  they  were  to  be  treated  as  representatives  of 
their  nations.  If  the  slightest  honor  was  shown 
to  the  flag  of  one  country  which  was  not  instantly 
shown  to  the  other ;  if  a  polite  attention  was 
extended  to  one  party  which  was  not  balanced  by 
something  equivalent  for  the  other ;  if  the  two 
groups  were  even  brought  in  too  close  proximity, 
there  was  haughty  sniffing  and  bridling  which 
threatened  the  dreadful  scandal  of  one  or  both 
sets  of  guests  going  off  in  the  midst  of  the  enter- 


PERSONAL   TRAITS    AND    CHARACTERISTICS.        65 

tainment.  Mr.  Elaine  was  the  very  man  to  have 
charge  in  such  an  emergency,  but  his  patience,  as 
well  as  his  adroitness,  were  sometimes  thoroughly 
tried.  The  French,  doubtless,  considered  them 
selves  entitled  to  the  greater  share  of  hereditary 
gratitude  and  recognition,  but  the  Germans  were 
quite  as  determined  that  the  French  should  not 
get  it,  and  the  stiffness  of  Prussian  military 
etiquette  (they  were  all  officers)  made  it  the  more 
easy  to  offend  them.  The  cordial  manner  of  the 
Secretary  of  State  smoothed  over  many  difficulties, 
and  the  guests  of  the  nation  all  departed  in 
pleasant  mood. 

One  of  the  flying  anecdotes  of  the  time  is,  per- 
haps,  worthy  of  preservation.  At  a  dinner  given 
by  Mr.  Elaine  at  his  temporary  place  of  residence 
at  Yorktown  to  the  President,  and  other  of  the 
most  distinguished  persons  in  attendance,  Mr. 
Arthur,  in  the  course  of  the  conversation,  remarked 
that  the  next  Centennial  celebration  upon  that 
spot  would  be  a  still  more  imposing  event,  "And 
who  knows,"  he  said,  turning  to  Mr.  Elaine,  "that 
a  grandson  of  yours  may  not  then  be  President 
of  the  United  States?"  Whereupon,  Senator 
Anthony,  who  sat  by,  observed,  with  a  suspicion 
of  slyness,  that  "he  had  understood  the  family, 
and  the  country  were  not  willing  to  wait  quite 
that  long." 


CHAPTER  IV. 

WARM-HEARTED    AND    BELOVED. 

THE  attachment  of  Mr.  Elaine  to  his  birth 
place  is  so  strong  and  so  unusual,  that  the  infer 
ence  is  clear  that  his  childhood  must  have  been 
a  happy  one.  No  place  will  ever  hold  the  same 
interest  in  his  affection  as  Washington  County, 
Pennsylvania.  He  remembers,  with  fondness, 
every  running  brook,  every  tree,  every  stone, 
every  tradition,  every  incident  connected  with  its 
history,  and  every  name  numbered  in  its  citizen 
ship,  for  the  last  hundred  years.  He  recalls,  with 
peculiar  tenderness,  his  early  boyhood  there,  his 
old  teachers,  his  old  school  fellows.  This  feeling 
is  one  which  seems  to  be  a  characteristic  of  natures 
which  are  at  once  capacious  and  ardent.  It  was 
strongly  developed  in  Webster,  and  in  many  of 
the  greatest  statesmen  of  this  and  other  lands. 

It  is  something  quite  distinct  from  mere  state 
pride,  admirable  as  that  also  is  when  kept  within 
due  bounds.  It  does  not  depend  upon  artificial 
constitutions  or  institutions,  but  is  an  attachment 
to  one's  native  soil  and  locality  as  such.  It  is 
undoubtedly  the  natural  foundation  of  that  intense 
national  patriotism,  which  is  so  marked  an  element 

CO 


WARM-HEARTED    AND    BELOVED.  67 

in  Mr.  Elaine's  character,  that  it  has  attracted  the 
attention  and  provoked  the  criticism  of  English 
journals,  which  deprecate  his  election  to  the  Presi 
dency,  upon  the  ground  that  he  is  too  thoroughly 
"American."  The  criticism  is  one  which  will  not 
injure  Mr.  J31aine  with  the  people  of  the  United 
States,  native  or  adopted.  Against  these  passing 
cavils,  born  of  selfish  desires  and  fears,  we  may 
well  set  the  philosophic  words  of  a  great  English 
writer,  who  tells  us  that,  "  Whatever  strengthens 
our  local  attachments,  is  favorable  both  to  individ 
ual  and  national  character.  Our  home,  our  birth 
place,  our  native  land — think  for  a  while  what  the 
virtues  are  which  arise  out  of  the  feelings  con 
nected  with  these  words,  and,  if  you  have  any 
intellectual  eyes,  you  will  then  perceive  the  con 
nection  between  topography  and  patriotism." 

Mr.  Elaine's  love  for  his  birth-place  is  shown  by 
the  following  letter,  which  he  wrote  a  few  days 
before  the  death  of  President  Garfield,  and  which 
illustrates  his  mastery  of  that  graceful  and  elo 
quent  style,  in  which  he  easily  excels  all  other 
public  men  of  this  generation. 

"WASHINGTON,  D.  C,  Sept.  5,  1881. 
"  To  John  McKcnnan,  Esq.,  Washington,  Pa., 

"  DEAR  SIR  : — I  had  anticipated  great  pleasure  in  being 
present  at  the  centennial  celebration  of  the  erection  of 
Washington  County,  but  the  national  sorrow  which  shad 
ows  every  household  detains  me  here.  I  shall,  perhaps, 
never  again  have  the  opportunity  of  seeing  so  many  of 


68  LIFE    OF    JAMES    G.  ELAINE. 

my  blood  and  kindred,  and  you  may  well  conceive  that 
my   disappointment  is   great.      The   strong   attachment 
which  I  feel  for  the  county,  the  pride  which  I  cherish  in 
its  traditions,  and  the  high  estimate  which  I  have  always 
placed  on  the  character  of  its  people,  increase  with  years 
and  reflection.     The  pioneers  were  strong-hearted,  God 
fearing,  resolute  men,  wholly,  or  almost  wholly,  of  Scotcl 
or  Scotch-Irish  descent.     They  were  men,  who,  accord 
ing  to  an  inherited  maxim,  never  turned  their  backs  upoi; 

a  friend  or  an  enemy. 

*  *  *  *  *  *  -* 

"  It  would  be  impossible  to  overestimate  the  beneficent 
and  wide-spread  influence  which  Washington  and  Jeffer 
son  College  have  exerted  on  the  civilization  of  that  great 
country  between  the  Alleghenies  and  the  Mississippi 
river.  Their  graduates  have  been  prominent  in  the 
pulpit,  at  the  bar,  on  the  bench  and  in  the  high  stations 
of  public  life.  During  my  service  of  eighteen  years  in 
Congress,  I  have  met  a  larger  number  of  the  alumni  of 
Washington  and  Jefferson  than  of  any  other  single  college 
in  the  United  States.  I  make  this  statement  from  memory, 
but  I  feel  assured  that  a  close  examination  of  the  rolls  of 
the  two  houses  from  1863  to  iSSi  would  fully  establish 
its  correctness.  It  was  inevitable  that  a  county  thus 
peopled  should  grow  in  strength,  wisdom  and  wealth. 
Its  60,000  inhabitants  are  favored  far  beyond  the  average 
lot  of  man. 

"  They  are  blessed  with  a  fertile  soil,  and  with  the  health- 
giving  climate  which  belongs  to  the  charmed  latitude  of 
the  4Oth  parallel,  the  middle  of  the  wheat  and  corn  belt 
of  the  country.  Beyond  this,  they  enjoy  the  happy  and 
ennobling  influences  of  scenery  as  grand  and  as  beautiful 
as  that  which  lures  tourists  thousands  of  miles  beyond 
the  sea.  I  have  myself  visited  many  of  the  celebrated 


WARM-HEARTED    AND    BELOVED.  71 

spots  in  Europe,  and  in  America,  and  I  have  nowhere 
witnessed  a  more  attractive  sight  than  was  familiar  to  my 
eyes  in  boyhood  from  the  old  Indian  Hill  Farm,  where  I 
was  born,  and  where  my  great  grandfather,  the  elder  Neal 
Gillespie,  settled  before  the  outbreak  of  the  Revolution. 
The  majestic  sweep  of  the  Monongahela  through  the  foot 
hills  of  the  Alleghenies,  with  the  chain  of  mountains  but 
twenty  miles  distant  in  full  view,  gave  an  impression  of 
beauty  and  sublimity  which  can  never  be  effaced. 

"  I  talk  thus  familiarly  of  the  localities  and  of  child 
hood  incidents  because  your  assemblage,  though  com 
posed  of  thousands,  will,  in  effect,  be  a  family  reunion, 
where  the  only  thing  in  order  will  be  tradition  and  recol 
lection  and  personal  history.  Identified  as  I  have  been 
for  twenty-eight  years  with  the  great  and  noble  people  of 
another  section  of  the  Union.  I  have  never  lost  any  of 
my  attachment  for  my  native  county  and  my  native  state. 
Wherever  I  may  be  in  life  or  whatever  my  fortunes,  the 
county  of  Washington,  as  it  anciently  was,  taking  in  both 
sides  of  the  Monongahela,  will  be  sacred  in  my  memory. 
J  shall  always  recall  with  pride  that  my  ancestry  and 
kindred  were  and  are  not  inconspicuously  connected  with 
its  history,  and  that  on  either  side  of  the  beautiful  river, 
in  the  Protestant  and  in  the  Catholic  cemeteries,  five  gen 
erations  of  my  own  blood  sleep  in  honored  graves. 
"  Very  sincerely  yours, 

"JAMES  G.  ELAINE." 

No  less  was  his  popularity  in  Washington 
County,  even  as  a  youth,  and  to-day  he  is  not  for 
gotten,  but  is  remembered  and  beloved  by  all  the 
old  residents.  The  same  peculiarity  has  followed 
him  wherever  he  has  gone  ;  his  college  mates 


72  LIFE    OF    JAMES    G.  BLAINE. 

remember  him  first  of  all  their  associates.  As  a 
tutor  in  Kentucky,  his  pupils  have  never  forgot 
ten  him  nor  lost  their  old  time  liking  and  admira 
tion  for  him.  Among  those  who  knew  him  at  the 
Institution  for  the  Blind  in  Philadelphia  the  same 
high  regard  exists.  In  Maine,  where  he  has  lived 
for  over  thirty  years,  within  a  square  of  the  pic 
turesque  old  State  House,  not  one  person  has 
declared  his  unfriendliness  to  the  great  friend  of 
the  people.  His  neighbors,  from  the  youngest  to 
the  oldest,  are  his  best  friends,  and  no  man  in  the 
beautiful  city  of  Augusta  is  more  popular  or  more 
respected.  His  standing  at  home  is  therefore  all 
that  can  be  desired.  Rufus  Choate  once  said, 
"  Ask  what  his  friends,  neighbors  and  townsmen 
think  of  him,  if  you  want  to  know  what  the  man 
really  is."  Judged  by  this  standard,  Mr.  Elaine 
has  nothing  to  fear. 

An  old  citizen  of  Augusta  says  that  Mr.  Elaine's 
life  as  a  man  has  been  identified  with  the  people 
of  Maine.  "We  have  known  him,"  said  he,  "in 
every  relation  of  life,  closely  and  intimately, 
through  all  these  years,  and  in  every  way,  we  say 
in  the  presence  of  his  daily  associates,  Mr.  Elaine 
has  had  a  spotless  career.  As  husband,  father, 
neighbor,  citizen,  business  man,  every  one  in  this 
community,  without  regard  to  party  lines,  will 
give  him  unstinted  praise  ;  in  personal  morals, 
in  habits  of  temperance,  in  uprightness  in  busi 
ness,  and  in  devotion  to  extraordinary  as  well  as 


WARM-HEARTED    AND    BELOVED.  73 

ordinary  duties,  Mr.  Elaine  is  a  pattern  man.  He 
has  been  fortunate  in  life,  but  his  good  fortune 
has  been  the  result  of  good  habits  and  good 
sense,  and  he  has  been  so  generous,  not  only  with 
money,  but  with  time  and  sympathy,  that  envy 
and  jealousy  have  not  followed  him.  He  has  an 
elegant,  refined,  Christian  home,  open  to  every 
demand  of  hospitality  ;  and  there  is  not  a  poor 
man  in  the  town  who  hesitates  to  enter  it  for 
relief,  or  who  goes  away  empty-handed. 

"  Mr.  Elaine  has  always  been  a  model  of  honor 
and  uprightness  in  his  financial  dealings.  His 
word  is  as  good  as  his  bond,  and  no  debt  was 
ever  unpaid,  or  grudgingly  paid,  or  evaded  by 
him.  This  whole  community  will  absolutely  tes 
tify  to  his  liberality,  and  bear  witness  how  wisely 
and  constantly  he  has  given  to  all  good  and 
worthy  objects. 

"  Men  may  be  tempted  by  the  necessities  of  a 
desperate  political  campaign  to  resort  to  'mud- 
throwing'  to  assail  Mr.  Elaine's  character,  but 
against  all  such  efforts  we  present  a  man  who  has 
the  universal  respect  and  attachment  of  neighbors 
who  have  known  him  throughout  his  whole  career, 
and  know  that  he  has  been  a  centre  of  good  and 
not  of  evil  all  his  life  ;  a  man  who  has  a  State 
behind  him  of  absolute  unanimity,  and  who  has 
to-day  a  more  devoted  and  enthusiastic  personal 
following  than  any  other  man  in  the  United 
States." 
5 


74  LIFE    OF   JAMES    G.  BLAINE. 

As  an  example  of  Mr.  Elaine's  sympathy  and 
generosity,  an  incident  coming  within  the  obser 
vation  of  the  writer  may  be  noticed.  A  young 
journalist,  who  had  been  friendly  to  Mr.  Elaine, 
or  at  least  not  prejudiced  against  him,  was  lying 
very  ill  at  his  residence  in  Washington.  His 
expenses  were  heavy,  and  his  income  was  wholly 
cut  off.  Another  journalist  told  Mr.  Elaine  of 
the  condition  of  the  sick  man  and  his  family.  Mr. 
Elaine,  then  Speaker,  was  about  to  open  the  day's 
session  of  the  House.  When  he  heard  the  story, 
he  said,  "Wait  a  moment,"  and  went  to  his  offi 
cial  desk.  The  usual  morning  prayer  was  said, 
^nd  then,  while  the  Journal  of  the  previous  day's 
session  was  being  read,  Mr.  Elaine  called  a  mem 
ber  to  the  chair  and  joined  his  newspaper  friend 
in  the  Speaker's  lobby. 

"  Come  with  me,"  said  he  ;  and,  going  directly 
to  the  office  of  the  Sergeant-at-Arms,  he  drew 
one  hundred  dollars  in  bills,  and,  handing  them  to 
the  gentleman,  said,  "If  you  get  a  chance  to  give 
this  to  his  family  without  wounding  their  pride  or 
subjecting  them  to  obligation,  do  so,  only  do  not 
let  my  name  be  mentioned."  It  so  happened 
that  the  money  was  not  needed,  but  the  kindly 
disposition  of  the  man  was  thus  illustrated.  And 
this  is  only  one  instance  among  the  almost  num 
berless  cases  where  his  purse  has  been  opened 
wherever  its  contents  could  relieve  distress  or 
misery,  or  serve  some  good  cause. 


WARM-HEARTED    AND    BELOVED.  7* 

The  following  remarks  of  the  Rev.  Dr.  Ecob, 
now  in  charge  of  a  large  congregation  in  Albany, 
N.  Y.,  are  appropriate  in  this  connection.  No 
truer,  better  man  than  he  ever  entered  a  pulpit. 

"I  have  known  Mr.  Elaine,"  says  this  gentleman, 
"  since  1872.  During  nearly  ten  years  of  that 
time  I  was  pastor  of  the  church  in  Augusta  of 
which  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Elaine  are  members.  The 
satisfaction  I  take  in  his  nomination  is  based  upon 
such  a  knowledge  of  him  as  only  a  pastor  can 
gain.  I  believe  that  I  am  too  true  a  Republican, 
and  I  know  that  my  conception  of  citizenship  is 
too  high,  to  permit  me  to  ratify  the  exaltation  of 
any  man  whose  character  has  not  the  true  ring.  I 
have  been  very  near  to  Mr.  Elaine,  not  only  in 
the  most  trying  political  crises,  but  in  the  sharper 
trial  of  great  grief  in  the  household,  and  have 
never  yet  detected  a  false  note.  I  would  not  be 
understood  as  avowing  too  much  for  human 
nature.  I  mean  that  as  I  have  known  him  he  has 
stood  loyally  by  his  convictions  ;  that  his  word  has 
always  had  back  of  it  a  clear  purpose,  and  that 
purpose  has  always  been  worthy  of  the  highest 
manhood. 

"  In  his  house  he  was  always  the  soul  of  gen 
iality  and  good  heart.  It  was  always  summer  in 
that  house  whatever  the  Maine  winter  might  be 
without.  And  not  only  his  '  rich  neighbors  and 
kinsmen '  welcomed  him  home,  but  a  long  line  of 
the  poor  hailed  the  return  of  that  family  as  a 


76  LIFE    OF   JAMES    G.  ELAINE 

special  providence.  In  the  church  he  is  honored 
and  beloved.  The  good  old  New  England  cus 
tom  of  church-going  with  all  the  guests  is  enforced 
strictly  in  the  Elaine  household.  Whoever  is 
under  his  roof,  from  the  President  down,  is 
expected  to  be  with  the  family  at  church.  Fair 
Weather  or  foul,  those  pews  were  always  well 
filled.  Not  only  his  presence  on  the  Sabbath,  but 
his  influence,  his  wise  counsels,  his  purse,  are 
freely  devoted  to  the  interest  of  the  noble  Old 
South  Church  of  Augusta. 

''The  hold  which  Mr.  Elaine  has  maintained 
upon  the  hearts  of  such  great  numbers  of  his 
countrymen  is  not  sufficiently  explained  by  bril 
liant  gifts  of  magnetism  ;  the  secret  lies  in  his 
generous,  manly,  Christian  character.  Those  who 
have  known  him  best  are  not  surprised  that  his 
friends  all  over  the  country  have  been  determined 
that  he  should  secure  the  highest  honor  within 
their  gift.  It  is  because  they  believe  in  him.  The 
office  has  sought  the  man,  the  political  papers  to 
the  contrary  notwithstanding.  I  have  absolute 
knowledge  that  in  1880  he  did  not  lift  a  finger  to 
influence  the  Convention.  He  was  quietly  at 
home  devoting  himself  to  his  business  affairs,  and 
steadfastly  refused  even  the  entreaties  of  his  own 
family  to  interest  himself  in  behalf  of  the  nomina 
tion.  I,  for  one,  shall  put  my  conscience  into  my 
vote  next  November." 


CHAPTER  V. 

AN  AMERICAN  OF  THE  AMERICANS. 

THERE  is  nothing  which  has  more  commended 
Mr.  Elaine  to  the  admiration  and  enthusiastic 
support  of  his  fellow-countrymen,  whether  they 
were  distinctly  conscious  of  the  quality  in  him  or 
not,  than  the  thoroughly  native  quality  and  fibre 
of  his  character.  He  is  above  all  things  an 
American.  It  is  scarcely  necessary  to  qualify  this 
by  saying  that  there  is  in  him  none  of  the  narrow 
ness  of  the  so-called  ''Native  American,''  or 
"Know  Nothing,"  and  none  of  that  harmful  ex 
cess  of  feeling  to  which  the  French,  who  afford 
perhaps  the  best  specimens  of  it,  have  given  the 
name  of  "  Chauvinism."  His  sympathies,  though 
first  for  his  own  nation,  are  also  wide  enough  to 
embrace  the  whole  "boundless  continent,"  which 
he  thinks  ought  to  be  "ours"  by  the  peaceful 
conquest  of  mutual  commerce  and  friendship,  and 
every  man  is  to  him  an  American  who  gives  his 
undivided  faith  and  allegiance  to  the  Constitution 
and  the  Union,  and  is  ready  to  merge  himself  in 
the  body  of  the  American  people.  With  only  this 
proviso  he  is  ready  to  espouse-  the  cause  of  any 
citizen  or  class  of  citizens,  wherever  they  may 


78  LIFE    OF   JAMES    G.  ELAINE. 

have  been  born,  or  of  whatever  race,  or  whether 
dwelling  in  our  own  borders  or  traveling  abroad. 

The  words  which  in  his  memorial  address  he 
applied  to  the  lamented  Garfield,  with  whom  he 
had  so  many  admirable  qualities  in  common,  might 
Well  be  applied  to  the  orator  who  spoke : 

"Himself  a  conspicuous  illustration  of  what 
ability  and  ambition  may  do  under  republican 
institutions,  he  loved  his  country  with  a  passion 
of  patriotic  devotion,  and  every  waking  thought 
was  given  to  her  advancement.  He  was  an 
American  in  all  his  aspirations,  and  he  looked  to 
the  destiny  and  influence  of  the  United  States 
with  the  philosophic  composure  of  Jefferson,  and 
the  demonstrative  confidence  of  John  Adams." 

And  again  :  "He  believed  that  our  continental 
relations,  extensive  and  undeveloped  as  they  are, 
involved  responsibility,  and  could  be  cultivated 
into  profitable  friendship,  or  be  abandoned  to 
harmful  indifference  or  lasting  enmity.  He  be 
lieved,  with  equal  confidence,  that  an  essential 
forerunner  to  a  new  era  of  national  progress  must 
be  a  feeling  of  contentment  in  every  section  of  the 
Union,  and  a  generous  belief  that  the  benefits  and 
burdens  of  government  would  be  common  to  all." 

This  active  patriotism  in  Mr.  Elaine's  character 
explains  many  features  of  his  career.  He  is  not 
one  to  be  satisfied  with  making  mere  lip-profes 
sions  of  devotion,  or  even  being  ready  to  defend 
his  country  when  attacked.  He  wishes  at  all 


AN  AMERICAN  OF  THE  AMERICANS.      79 

times  to  be  doing  something  in  her  service,  either 
to  advance  prosperity  at  home,  or  assert  her 
proper  position  abroad,  among  the  nations  of  the 
earth — two  things  which  in  this  stage  of  the  world's 
progress  are  indeed  inseparable. 

Thus,  in  1878,  he  braved  the  odium  which  then 
attached  to  the  very  name  of  subsidy,  and  advo 
cated  the  establishment  and  maintenance  of  a  line 
of  mail  steamers  to  Brazil,  to  which  the  Emperor 
Dom  Pedro  lately  returned,  full  of  enthusiasm, 
from  his  visit  to  the  United  States,  had  already 
extended  aid  conditional  upon  that  from  the 
United  States.  He  showed  that  by  this  very 
policy  Great  Britain  had  crowded  the  American 
sailor  off  the  seas,  and  he  appealed  to  Congress 
to  right  this  wrong,  saying: 

"  I  maintain,  Mr.  President,  that  if  the  United 
States  had  not  met  with  the  incalculable  obstacle 
that  was  thrown  upon  us  by  the  war,  and  had 
been  willing  to  uphold  her  shipping  just  as  stiffly 
as  Great  Britain  on  all  the  lines  of  commerce,  we 
should  have  outrun  her.  We  had  done  it  in  sail 
ing-vessels.  We  were  ahead  of  her,  or  at  least 
equal  to  her,  in  1857.  If  I  remember  the  figures 
aright,  the  tonnage  s'tood  about  5,700,000  tons  for 
each  country,  and  I  grieve  to  say  that  it  is  eight 
million  and  odd  for  Great  Britain,  and  only  three 
million  for  America  to-day.  You  may  stand  here 
and  talk  about  the  wrongfulness  of  subsidies,  and 
the  impolicy  of  granting  them,  until  doomsday, 


8O  LIFE    OF   JAMES    G.  ELAINE. 

and  Great  Britain  will  applaud  every  speech  of 
that  kind  made  in  the  American  Congress,  and 
will  quietly  subsidize  her  steamers  and  take  pos 
session  of  the  commerce  of  the  world.  Great 
Britain  to-day  makes  more  money  out  of  the  com 
merce  of  the  United  States,  vastly  more,  than  is 
the  interest  on  our  public  debt.  She  handles 
more,  in  the  way  of  net  profits,  on  the  commerce 
which  America  gives  her,  than  the  interest  on  the 
vast  national  debt  which  we  are  burdened  with 
to-day.  I  make  that  statement  as  a  statistical  fact, 
capable  of  being  illustrated  and  proved." 

The  aid  was  refused,  and  American  trade  is 
still  cut  off  from  Brazil,  or  goes  only  by  way  of 
Liverpool,  in  British  steamers.  Again,  in  1881, 
he  pleaded  for  the  re-establishment  of  American 
shipping,  opposing,  at  the  same  time,  the  propo 
sition  of  Senator  Beck  to  throw  open  our  doors 
to  the  ship-builders  of  the  Clyde.  His  watchword 
was  still,  "Everything  American."  He  said: 

44  Mr.  President,  the  frank  admission  of  the 
honorable  Senator  from  Kentucky  took  away  a 
large  part  of  the  argument  which  I  thought  I 
should  have  to  make,  and  that  was  to  prove  that 
if  the  United  States  to-day  is  incompetent  to  com 
pete  with  Great  Britain  in  the  manufacture  of  iron 
ships,  and  if  you  admit  iron  ships  from  Great 
Britain  absolutely  free  of  duty,  you  will  be  still 
more  incompetent  to  do  it  next  year.  It  takes,  in 
the  language  of  the  trade,  what  is  called  a  great 


AN  AMERICAN  OF  THE  AMERICANS.      8 1 

'plant'  to.  build  steamships  ;  it  takes  a  large  in 
vestment  of  money ;  it  takes  large  and  powerful 
machinery ;  it  requires  the  investment  of  millions 
to  start  with  ;  and  if,  in  addition  to  all  that  has 
been  done  abroad  to  build  up  English  ship-yards, 
we  pour  into  them  all  the  patronage  that  can  come 
from  this  country,  I  should  like  the  honorable 
Senator  from  Kentucky,  or  any  other  Senator,  to 
tell  me  exactly  at  what  point  of  time  it  will  come 
to  pass  that  any  feeble  effort  on  this  side  will  begin 
to  compete  with  those  great  yards.  If  you  abandon 
it  this  year  because  you  are  unable,  you  will  be 
far  more  unable  next  year,  you  will  be  still  less 
able  the  year  ensuing,  and  every  year  will  add  to 
the  monopoly  of  British  power  in  that  respect,  and 
to  the  absolute  weakness  and  prostration  of  Ameri 
can  power  in  competition.  But  I  will  say  that  the 
frank  admission  of  the  honorable  Senator  from 
Kentucky,  of  the  future  and  perpetual  dependence 
upon  England  removes  the  necessity  of  arguing 
that  point.  He  frankly  admits  it  with  all  its 
damaging  force." 

In  1879,  Mr.  Blaine  said,  in  speaking  of  the  ex 
penses  of  the  navy,  which  has  no  commerce  to 
protect :  "  We  carried  five-sevenths  of  the  Ameri 
can  commerce  when  the  war  broke  out.  We  do 
not  carry  one-quarter  to-day,  and  if  we  come  out 
of  the  deep  abyss  of  humiliation  that  we  are  in,  we 
will  come  out  of  it  by  vigorous  and  strong-nerved 
and  daring  legislation,  if  you  please.  I  would 


82  LIFE    OF   JAMES    G.  ELAINE. 

open  it  to  all  the  business  of  the  country,  but  I 
would  put  the  race  between  American  skill  and 
the  skill  of  all  the  world,  with  the  utmost  possible 
confidence  that,  sustained  by  this  Government  in 
the  race,  we  would  win.  It  is  in  our  people.  With 
an  equal  chance  we  can  beat  them.  But,  with  the 
present  condition  of  things,  a  hope  for  the  revival 
of  American  commerce  is  as  idle  a  hope  as  ever 
entered  the  brain  of  an  insane  man.  Our  trade 
is  falling  off  one  or  two  per  cent,  per  annum  as 
we  stand  to-day.  It  was  less  this  year  than  it  was 
last.  It  was  less  last  year  than  it  was  the  year 

before.     It  will  be  less  next  year  than  this. 
*  #  #          -      #  * 

"We  want  a  navy,  but  we  want  something  for 
it  to  do.  We  want  a  navy  to  protect  the  com 
merce,  but  we  want  a  commerce  in  advance  for 
the  navy  to  protect,  and  we  want  a  commerce  that 
shall  not  be  one  of  favoritism ;  a  commerce  that 
shall  not  benefit  one  section  at  the  expense  of 
another,  but  one  that  shall  be  equal  and  just  and 
generous  and  profitable  to  all.  You  will  never 
get  it  by  making  this  nation  a  tributary  to  Great 
Britain.  You  will  never  get  it  by  banishing  the 
art  of  ship-building  from  among  our  people.  You 
will  never  get  it  by  discouraging  all  possible  aspi 
rations  for  maritime  and  commercial  supremacy, 
by  a  public  proclamation  from  Congress  that  after 
nearly  a  century  of  gallant  struggle,  in  which 
more  than  three-quarters  of  the  time  we  were 


AN  AMERICAN  OF  THE  AMERICANS.      83 

ahead  in  the  race,  on  account  of  an  accidental  mis 
hap  that  put  us  behind,  we  of  to-day,  not  having 
the  nerve  or  the  sagacity  of  those  who  went  before 
us,  sank  before  the  prospect,  and  asked  other 
nations  to  do  for  us  what  we  have  lost  the  man 
hood  and  the  energy  to  do  for  ourselves." 

There  is  nothing  of  the  spread-eagle  in  this.  It 
is  the  langauge  of  a  statesman  who  wishes  prac 
tically  to  benefit  his  country,  who  is  not  only  proud 
of  her  resources,  but  wishes  to  see  them  developed, 
and  who  knows  that  a  great  people  should  not  re 
main  supine  in  the  race  for  peaceful  supremacy  on 
the  globe. 

In  the  same  way  he  appealed  to  a  proper 
national  pride,  when,  in  1878,  as  a  friend  of  bi-metal- 
lic  currency,  he  withstood  not  only  the  advocates 
of  the  single  gold  standard  but  those  of  the 
unlimited  coinage  of  the  depreciated  dollar,  and 
urged  the  coinage  of  a  silver  dollar  of  equal  value 
with  that  of  gold.  He  showed  that  it  would  not 
only  tend  to  restore  silver  for  international  ex 
changes,  but  that  it  would  "  insure  to  our  laborers 
at  home  a  full  dollar's  pay  for  a  dollar's  worth  of 
work,"  a  matter  always  of  deep  concern  to  him. 
On  this  point  he  further  said : 

"And  I  think  we  owe  this  to  the  American 
laborer.  Ever  since  we  demonetized  the  old 
dollar  we  have  been  running  our  mints  at  full 
speed,  coining  a  new  silver  dollar  for  the  use  of 
the  Chinese  cooly  and  the  Indian  pariah — a  dol- 


84  LIFE    OF    JAMES    G.    BLAINE. 

lar  containing  420  grains  of  standard  silver,  with 
its  superiority  over  our  ancient  dollar  ostenta 
tiously  engraved  on  its  reverse  side.  To  these 
'outside  barbarians'  we  send  this  superior  dollar, 
bearing  all  our  national  emblems,  our  patriotic 
devices,  our  pious  inscriptions,  our  goddess  of 
liberty,  our  defiant  eagle,  our  federal  unity,  our 
trust  in  God.  This  dollar  contains  7^"  grains 
more  silver  than  the  famous  'dollar  of  the  fathers' 
proposed  to  be  recoined  by  the  pending  bill,  and 
more  than  four  times  as  many  of  these  new  dol 
lars  have  already  been  coined  as  ever  were  coined 
of  all  other  silver  dollars  in  the  United  States. 
In  the  exceptional  and  abnormal  condition  of  the 
silver  market  now  existing  throughout  the  world, 
we  have  felt  compelled  to  increase  the  weight  of 
the  dollar  with  which  we  carry  on  trade  with  the 
heathen  nations  of  Asia.  And  shall  we  do  less 
for  the  American  laborer  at  home  ?  Nay,  shall 
we  not  do  a  little  better  and  a  little  more  for  those 
of  our  own  blood  and  our  own  friends?  If  you 
remonetize  the  dollar  of  the  fathers,  your  mints 
will  be  at  once  put  to  work  on  two  different  dol 
lars  ;  different  in  weight,  different  in  value,  differ 
ent  in  prestige,  different  in  their  reputation  and 
currency  throughout  the  commercial  world.  It 
will  read  strangely  in  history  that  the  weightier 
and  more  valuable  of  these  dollars  is  made  for  an 
ignorant  class  of  heathen  laborers  in  China  and 
India,  and  that  the  lighter  and  less  valuable  is 


AN  AMERICAN  OF  THE  AMERICANS.      85 

made  for  the  intelligent  and  educated  laboring 
man  who  is  a  citizen  of  the  United  States.  Char 
ity,  the  adage  says,  begins  at  home.  Charity,  the 
independent  American  laborer  scorns  to  ask,  but 
he  has  the  right  to  demand  that  justice  shouid 
begin  at  home.  And  in  his  name,  and  in  the 
name  of  common  sense  and  common  honesty,  I 
ask  that  the  American  Congress  will  not  force 
upon  the  American  laborer  an  inferior  dollar, 
which  the  naked  and  famishing  and  degraded 
laborers  of  India  and  China  refuse  to  accept." 


CHAPTER  VI. 

A    FRIEND    OF    LABOR    AND    ENTERPRISE. 

MR.  ELAINE'S  sympathy  goes  naturally,  and  has 
always  gone,  to  the  workingman.  He  comes 
from  a  place  and  from  among  a  people  where 
honest  labor  is  considered  a  badge  of  honor,  and 
where  the  maxim,  "If  any  man  will  not  work, 
neither  shall  he  eat,"  is  thoroughly  believed  in. 
He  has  himself  spent  a  life  of  constant  exertion, 
either  in  public  or  private  employ,  and  none  of 
the  pains  or  the  pleasures  of  such  a  life  are 
unknown  to  him.  The  phrase  "workingman's 
friend"  has  been  so  abused  by  demagogues  that 
Mr.  Elaine  has  never  put  forward  a  claim  to  it,  or 
paraded  himself  in  that  character;  but  his  adhe 
rence  to  the  cause  has  been  steady  and  unosten 
tatious.  He  has,  in  fact,  felt  himself  one  with  the 
toiling  millions,  and  has  spoken  as  one  of  them, 
as  it  were  in  his  own  behalf  as  well  as  theirs,  and 
never  as  if  condescending  from  any  height  above 
them. 

The  result  has  been  a  ready  and  cordial  sym 
pathy  between  himself  and  those  of  his  fellow- 
citizens  who  eat  their  bread  in  the  sweat  of  their 
face,  earning  a  livelihood  with  active  brain,  or 

86 


A    FRIEND    OF    LABOR    AND    ENTERPRISE.  87 

deft  fingers,  or  strong  arms.  He  has  a  lively  and 
profound  interest  in  all  that  pertains  to  them, 
whether  they  be  those  who  swing  the  sledge  and 
axe,  or  drive  the  plane,  or  delve  in  the  mine,  or 
control  with  skill  and  courage  the  powerful  agen 
cies  of  steam. 

His  constant  effort  has  been  to  aid  the  develop 
ment  of  American  industry,  not  only  by  maintain 
ing  the  duties  on  imports,  which  protect  the 
American  manufacturer  and  mechanic  against 
ruinous  competition  from  abroad,  and  have  there 
by  added  so  much  to  the  accumulated  wealth  and 
resources  of  the  country,  but  also  by  opening  new 
fields  for  enterprise  in  the  direction  of  ship-build 
ing,  the  ocean-carrying  trade,  and  commerce  with 
countries  which  need  our  products. 

His  plans  and  policy  all  tend  toward  improving 
the  condition  of  the  laborer  and  artisan,  toward 
preserving  to  him  the  home  market,  which  is  so 
rapidly  increasing  by  the  growth  of  population, 
and  at  the  same  time  adding  a  foreign  one  by 
developing  trade  relations  with  our  sister  repub 
lics  in  this  hemisphere,  the  countries  of  Asia  and 
Africa,  which  are  now  too  much  monopolized  by 
Europe,  and  even  with  Europe  itself,  where 
American  ingenuity,  if  once  fully  appreciated, 
would  find  a  welcome. 

This  ready  and  warm-hearted  sympathy  with 
the  wage-earner  has  been  displayed  in  many  ways 
by  Mr.  Elaine.  When  the  question  of  the  cur- 


88  LIFE    OF   JAMES    G.  BLAINE. 

rency  was  before  Congress,  under  exciting  cir 
cumstances,  in  1876,  Mr.  Blaine  (whose  record  in 
this  particular  is  clear)  took  the  side  of  honest 
money  as  opposed  to  wild  inflation.  What  was 
the  reason  which  he  put  foremost  for  this  action? 
It  was  that  the  interests  of  the  workingman  would 
be  injuriously  affected  by  the  opposite  course.  In 
his  speech  before  the  House  of  Representatives, 
February  loth,  1876,  Mr.  Blaine  explained,  with 
equal  vigor  and  clearness,  the  effect  which  would 
be  produced  by  perpetuating  an  irredeemable 
paper  currency,  and  distinguished  this  from  the 
effects  produced  by  its  original  issue  during  the 
war.  He  said : 

•ji 

"  Uncertainty  as  to  the  value  of  the  currency  from  day 
to  day  is  injurious  to  all  honest  industry.  And  while 
that  which  is  known  as  the  debtor  interest  should  be 
fairly  and  generously  considered  in  the  shaping  of  mea 
sures  for  specie  resumption,  there  is  no  justice  in  asking 
for  inflation  on  its  behalf.  Rather  there  is  the  gravest 
injustice;  for  you  must  remember  that  there  is  a  large 
class  of  most  deserviug  persons  who  would  be  continually 
and  remorselessly  robbed  by  such  a  policy.  I  mean  the 
Labor  of  the  country,  that  is  compelled  to  live  from  and 
by  its  daily  earnings.  The  savings-banks,  which  repre 
sent  the  surplus  owned  "by  the  laborers  of  the  nation, 
have  deposits  to-day  exceeding  eleven  hundred  millions 
of  dollars — more  than  the  entire  capital  stock  and  deposits 
of  the  national  banks.  The  pensioners,  who  represent 
the  patriotic  suffering  of  the  country,  have  a  capitalized 
investment  of  six  hundred  millions  of  dollars.  Here  are 


A    FRIEND    OF    LABOR    AND    ENTERPRISE.  89 

seventeen  hundred  millions  of  money  incapable  of  re 
ceiving  anything  but  instant  and  lasting  injury  from  infla 
tion.  Whatever  impairs  the  purchasing  power  of  the 
dollar  correspondingly  decreases  the  resources  of  the 
savings-bank  depositor  and  pensioner.  The  pensioner's 
loss  would  be  absolute,  but  it  would  probably  be  argued 
that  the  laborer  would  receive  compensation  by  his  nomi 
nally  larger  earnings.  But  this  would  prove  totally  delu 
sive,  for  no  possible  augmentation  of  wages  in  a  time  of 
inflation  will  ever  keep  pace  with  the  still  greater  increase 
of  price  in  the  commodities  necessary  to  sustain  life,  ex 
cept — and  mark  the  exception — under  the  condition  wit 
nessed  during  the  war,  when  the  number  of  laborers  was 
continually  reduced  by  the  demand  for  men  to  serve  in 
the  Army  and  Navy.  And  those  honest-minded  people 
who  recall  the  startling  activity  of  trade,  and  the  large 
profits  during  the  war,  and  attribute  both  to  an  inflated 
currency,  commit  the  error  of  leaving  out  the  most  im 
portant  element  of  the  calculation.  They  forget  that  the 
Government  was  a  customer  for  nearly  four  years  at  the 
rate  of  two  or  three  millions  of  dollars  per  day — buying 
countless  quantities  of  all  staple  articles ;  they  forget  that 
the  number  of  consumers  was  continually  enlarging  as 
our  armed  force  grew  to  its  gigantic  proportions,  and  that 
the  number  of  producers  was  by  the  same  cause  continu 
ally  growing  less,  and  that  thus  was  presented,  on  a  scale 
of  unprecedented  magnitude,  that  simple  problem,  familiar 
alike  to  the  political  economist  and  the  village  trader,  of 
the  demand  being  greater  than  the  supply,  and  a  conse 
quent  rise  in  the  price.  Had  the  government  been  able 
to  conduct  the  war  on  a  gold  basis,  and  provided  the  coin 
for  its  necessarily  large  and  lavish  expenditure,  a  rise  in 
the  price  of  labor,  and  a  rise  in  the  value  of  commodities, 
would  have  been  inevitable.  And  the  rise  of  both  labor 
6 


9°  LIFE    OF   JAMES    G.  ELAINE. 

and  commodities  in  gold  would  have  been  for  the  time 
as  marked  as  in  paper,  adding,  of  course,  the  depreciation 
of  the  latter  to  its  scale  of  prices." 

And  a  little  further  on,  in  the  same  speech,  he 
continued,  in  words  which  it  may  be  permissible 
to  quote  as  showing  another  of  his  most  cherished 
ideas,  as  follows : 

"  One  great  and  leading  interest  of  my  own  and  other 
States  has  suffered,  still  suffers,  and  will  continue  to 
suffer  so  long  as  the  currency  is  of  irredeemable  paper. 
I  mean  the  ship-building  and  navigation  interest — one 
that  does  more  for  the  country  and  asks  less  from  it  than 
any  other  except  the  agricultural ;  an  interest  that  repre 
sents  our  distinctive  nationality  in  all  climes  and  upon  all 
seas;  an  interest  more  essentially  and  intensely  American 
than  any  other  that  falls  under  the  legislative  power  of 
the  Government,  and  which  asks  only  to-day  to  be  left 
where  the  founders  of  the  Republic  placed  it  a  hundred 
years  ago.  Give  us  the  same  basis  of  currency  that  our 
great  competitors  of  the  British  Empire  enjoy,  and  we 
will,  within  the  life-time  of  those  now  living,  float  a  larger 
tonnage  under  the  American  flag  than  was  ever  enrolled 
by  one  nationality  since  the  science  of  navigation  has 
been  known  among  men.  Aye,  more,  sir;  give  us 'the 
specie  basis,  and  the  merchant  marine  of  America,  sailing 
into  all  zones  and  gathering  grain  from  all  continents, 
will  bring  back  to  our  shores  its  golden  profits,  and 
supply  to  us  that  coin  which  will  steady  our  system  and 
offset  the  drains  that  weaken  us  in  other  directions.  But 
ships  built  on  the  paper  basis  cannot  compete  with  the 
lower-priced  ones  of  the  gold  basis,  and  whoever  advo- 


A    FRIEND    OF    LABOR   AND    ENTERPRISE.  91 

cates  a  perpetuity  of  paper  money  in  this  country  con 
fesses  his  readiness  and  willingness  to  sacrifice  the  navi 
gation  and  commercial  interest  for  all  time." 

This  genuine  feeling  for  the  honest  worker  and 
desire  to  see  labor  reap  its  full  reward  is,  in  Mr. 
Elaine's  mind,  limited  to  no  particular  class,  but 
extends  to  the  farmer  as  well  as  to  the  mechanic  and 
sailor,  to  those  of  the  West  and  South  as  well  as 
to  those  of  the  East.  He  has,  in  fact,  kinships 
and  associations  with  them  all,  having  been,  as  he 
says  in  one  of  his  public  addresses,  "  born  and 
reared  amid  an  agricultural  community  in  Western 
Pennsylvania,  and  lived  all  the  years  of  my 
maturer  life  in  the  best  agricultural  district  in 
Maine,"  besides  his  briefer  experience  as  far 
South  as  Kentucky.  It  was  therefore  naturally, 
and  without  affectation,  that  he  concluded  his 
address  before  the  State  Fair  at  Minneapolis,  in 
September,  1878,  in  this  strain  of  prophetic  elo 
quence,  conveying  a  eulogy  of  the  farmer's  life 
worthy  of  Franklin  : 

"  During  all  the  depression  of  trade  and  commerce  and 
manufactures  prevailing  for  these  past  five  years,  you 
have  steadily  progressed  in  comfort,  independence  and 
wealth.  While  thousands  elsewhere  have  lacked  employ 
ment,  and  many,  I  fear,  have  lacked  bread,  no  able-bodied 
man  in  Minnesota  has  been  without  remunerative  labor, 
and  no  one  has  gone  to  bed  hungry.  Your  pursuits 
and  their  results  form  the  basis  of  the  ideal  Republic — 
happily  indeed  realized  within  your  own  borders.  The 


92  LIFE    OF   JAMES    G.  ELAINE. 

tendency  of  all  your  industry  is  toward  the  accumulation 
of  independent  competency,  and  does  not  favor  the 
upbuilding  of  colossal  fortunes.  You  are  dealing  daily 
with  the  essential  things  of  life,  and  not  warped  in  your 
judgment  nor  deflected  from  your  course  by  speculative 
and  illusory  schemes  of  advancement  and  gain.  You  are 
land-owners,  free-holders,  a  proud  title  that  comes  to  us 
with  centuries  of  civilization  and  strength — a  title  that 
every  man  in  this  country  should  make  it  his  object  to 
acquire  and  to  honor.  Self-government  among  the 
owners  of  the  soil  in  America  is  an  instinct,  and  where 
that  ownership  is  widely  distributed  good  government  is 
the  rule.  Whatever  disturbances,  therefore,  may  threaten 
the  peace  and  order  of  society,  whatever .  theories,  trans 
planted  from  other  climes,  may  seek  foot-hold  here,  the 
Republic  of  the  United  States  rests  securely  on  that  basis 
of  agriculture  where  the  farmers  of  the  Revolution  and 
the  framers  of  the  Constitution  placed  it.  The  man  who 
possesses  broad  acres,  which  he  has  earned  by  the  sweat 
of  his  brow,  is  not  apt  to  fall  in  with  the  doctrine  of  the 
Communist,  that  no  one  has  a  right  to  ownership  in  the 
soil.  The  man  who  has  the  product  of  his  labor  in  wheat 
and  in  corn,  in  pork  and  in  beef,  in  hides  and  in  wool — 
commanding  gold  and  silver  as  they  always  have  and 
always  will  in  the  markets  of  the  world — is  not  to  be  led 
astray  with  theories  of  fiat  paper  and  absolute  money,  but 
instinctively  consigns  such  wild  vagaries  to  the  appro 
priate  domain  of  fiat  folly  and  absolute  nonsense. 

The  farmers  of  the  Republic  will  control  its  destiny. 
Agriculture,  commerce  and  manufactures  are  the  three 
pursuits  that  enrich  a  nation — but  the  greatest  of  these  is 
agriculture — for  without  its  products  the  spindle  cannot 
turn  and  the  ship  will  not  sail.  Agriculture  furnishes  the 
conservative  element  in  society,  and  in  the  end  is  the  guid- 


A    FRIEND    OF    LABOR    AND    ENTERPRISE.  93 

ing,  restraining,  controlling  force  in  government.  Against 
storms  of  popular  fury;  against  frenzied  madness  that 
seeks  collision  with  established  order ;  against  theories 
of  administration  that  have  drenched  other  lands  in  blood  ; 
against  the  spirit  of  anarchy  that  would  sweep  away  the 
landmarks  and  safeguards  of  Christian  society  and  Repub 
lican  government,  the  farmers  of  the  United  States  will 
stand  as  a  shield  and  the  bulwark — themselves  the  willing 
subjects  of  law  and  therefore  its  safest  and  strongest 
administrators." 

And  he  added,  in  language  that  would  suffice  to 
meet  any  idea  that  his  outlook  is  limited  to  the 
Eastern  States: 

"  Gradually  the  Government  of  the  Republic  is  passing 
under  the  control  of  the  farmers  of  the  Mississippi  valley. 
Indeed  it  is  practically  there  to-day.  The  swelling  and 
on-rushing  tide  of  population  is  toward  the  plains  and 
the  rich  acres  that  lie  between  the  two  mountain  ranges 
of  the  continent.  The  soil  is  so  fertile,  the  land  so  in 
viting,  the  area  is  so  broad,  that  no  man  may  dare  calcu 
late  the  possibilities  of  this  great  region,  either  as  respects 
production  or  population.  Your  own  State,  peopled  no 
more  densely  than  New  York,  would  have  a  population 
of  nine  millions ;  peopled  as  densely  as  Massachusetts, 
you  would  have  a  population  of  sixteen  millions.  With 
the  transfer  of  political  control  from  the  old  States  to  the 
new,  there  is  also  transferred  a  vast  weight  of  responsi 
bility.  It  is  yours  to-day;  it  will  be  yours  still  more 
to-morrow.  Take  it ;  use  it  wisely  and  well  for  the  ad 
vancement  of  the  whole — for  the  honor  of  all  The 
patriotic  traditions  of  the  '  old  thirteen  '  that  fought  the 
battles  of  the  Revolution,  formed  the  Union  of  the  States, 


94  LIFE    OF    JAMES    G.  ELAINE. 

and  planted  liberty  in  the  organic  laws,  will  be  your  safest 
guide — your  highest  inspiration,  Many  of  you  mingle 
with  your  love  for  Minnesota,  your  earlier  affection  for 
the  old  home  and  the  old  State  far  to  the  East,  where  an 
honored  ancestry  lie  buried,  and  where  the  tenderest 
memories  cluster  around  the  familiar  scenes  of  days  long 
past.  It  is  this  kinship  of  blood,  these  ties  of  relation 
ships  that  make  us  indeed  one  people — uniting  the  East 
and  West,  the  North  and  the  South,  in  the  indissoluble 
bond  of  a  common  and  I  trust  always  beneficent  Govern 
ment" 

Mr.  Elaine  is  no  fair-weather  friend.  He  has 
stood  by  the  American  workingman  when  to  do 
so  cost  obloquy,  censure  and  the  loss  of  favor 
from  influential  persons.  A  considerable  part  of 
the  opposition  to  his  candidacy  to-day,  especially 
among  the  wealthy  Brahmin  caste  and  the  fanati 
cal  element  in  Massachusetts,  dates  from  his  un 
hesitating  advocacy  of  the  measures  to  limit  the 
importation  of  Chinese  labor,  this  being  also  one 
of  the  planks  in  the  platform  on  which  he  now 
stands.  When  the  late  William  Lloyd  Garrison 
published  a  denunciation  of  the  Republican  Sena 
tors  who  voted  for  the  bill  restricting  Chinese 
immigration,  Mr.  Elaine  replied,  in  a  letter  to  the 
New  York  Tribune,  in  February,  1879,  showing 
that  there  was  nothing  inconsistent  in  their  action 
with  the  traditions  of  the  Republican  party  in 
welcoming  immigration  from  Europe  of  free  and 
law-abiding  men,  who  meant  to  mingle  in  good 
faith  with  our  population,  or  in  protecting  the 


A    FRIEND    OF    LABOR    AND    ENTERPRISE."          95 

large  colored  population  already  among  us  and 
enrolled  as  citizens.  His  final  and  conclusive 
reason  for  his  action  was  that  the  exclusion  was 
necessary  in  order  to  prevent  the  degradation  of 
the  American  laborer  to  the  level  of  the  coolie, 
with  whom  he  would  otherwise  be  brought  in 
ruinous  competition.  .  He  said,  "We  do  not  want 
cheap  labor;  we  do  not  want  dear  labor.  We 
want  labor  at  fair  rates ;  at  rates  that  shall  give 
the  laborer  his  fair  share,  and  capital  its  fair  share. 
If  more  is  sought  by  capital,  less  will  in  the  end 
be  realized."  After  pointing  out  that  coolie  labor 
implied  all  the  evils  of  the  black  slave  labor  against 
which  Mr.  Garrison  had  contended  so  successfully, 
and  that  dangerous  civil  commotions  would  result 
from  a  sudden  and  general  reduction  of  wages, 
Mr.  Elaine  concluded  : 

"I  feel  and  know  that  I  am  pleading  the  cause 
of  the  free  American  laborer,  and  of  his  children 
and  of  his  children's  children.  It  has  been  well 
said  that  it  is  the  cause  of  '  the  house  against  the 
hovel ;  of  the  comforts  of  the  freeman  against  the 
squalor  of  the  slave.'  It  has  been  charged  that 
my  position  would  arraign  labor-saving  machinery 
and  condemn  it.  This  answer  is  not  only  super 
ficial,  it  is  also  absurd.  Labor-saving  machinery 
has  multiplied  the  power  to  pay,  has  developed 
new  wants,  and  has  continually  enlarged  the  area 
of  labor,  and  constantly  advanced  the  wages  of 
the  laborer.  But  servile  toil  has  always  dragged 


96  LIFE   OF   JAMES    G.  ELAINE. 

free  labor  to  its  lowest  level,  and  has  stripped  it 
of  one  muniment  after  another  until  it  was  help 
less  and  hopeless.  Whenever  that  condition 
comes  to  the  free  laborer  of  America,  the  Repub 
lic  of  equal  rights  is  gone,  and  we  shall  live  under 
the  worst  of  oligarchies — that  of  mere  wealth, 
whose  profit  only  measures  the  wretchedness  of 
the  unpaid  toilsmen  that  produce  it." 


CHAPTER  VII. 

THE    ORATOR. 

MR.  ELAINE  has  never  set  himself  to  gain  the 
reputation  of  an  orator.  His  public  speaking  has 
always  been  of  a  practical  sort,  intended  to  effect 
some  important  object,  without  time  to  consider 
many  of  the  graces  of  rhetoric.  For  this  purpose 
his  style  and  manner  are  well  adapted.  He  is 
clear,  forcible  and  direct,  and  always  terribly  in 
earnest,  a  fiery  "  Rupert  of  debate."  His  voice  is 
of  good  carrying  power ;  his  utterance  rapid  but 
distinct,  and  his  tall,  well-poised  figure,  constantly 
in  motion  ;  his  vigorous  gestures  and  flashing  eye, 
convey  his  own  intensity  of  conviction,  and  seem 
to  bear  down  all  opposition  before  them.  By 
some  he  has  been  criticised  as  almost  too  vehe 
ment,  and  even  brusque  in  his  argument  and 
attack,  but  it  should  be  understood  that  this  is 
merely  his  natural  and  unconscious  manner,  and 
does  not  mark  any  personal  feeling  toward  his 
opponents.  No  man  is  more  free  from  this  pet 
tiness.  He  carries  away  no  resentments  from  the 
hardest  tussle  of  logic  and  argument,  always  meets 
good-humor  and  compliment  in  the  course  of  it 
with  equal  heartiness,  and  only  resorts  to  personal 

97 


Qo  LIFE    OF    JAMES    G.  ELAINE. 

retort  upon  the  strongest  provocation.  Some  of 
his  warmest  friends  have  been  those  with  whom 
he  had  the  most  doughty  verbal  conflicts  upon  the 
floor  of  Congress  or  the  campaign  rostrum.  But, 
on  the  few  occasions,  when  he  has  had  time  to 
study  his  language  and  expression,  he  has  easily 
risen  to  heights  which  show  that  his  reputation  as 
an  orator  is  at  least  potentially  deserved,  and 
might  have  been  made  as  actual  as  that  of  a 
Chatham  or  a  Sheridan.  Such  an  instance  is  the 
conclusion  of  *his  matchless  address  in  commemo 
ration  of  the  martyred  Garfield,  delivered  before 
the  great  auditory  that  assembled  in  the  Hall  of 
Representatives,  on  the  2 7th  day  of  February, 
1882.  With  exquisite  simplicity,  but  with  the 
deepest  feeling  apparent  in  every  word,  he  then 
said  : 

"  On  the  morning  of  Saturday,  July  2d,  the 
President  was  a  contented  and  happy  man — not 
in  an  ordinary  degree,  but  joyfully,  almost  boy 
ishly  happy.  On  his  way  to  the  railroad  station, 
to  which  he  drove  slowly,  in  conscious  enjoyment 
of  the  beautiful  morning,  with  an  unwonted  sense 
of  leisure  and  a  keen  anticipation  of  pleasure,  his 
talk  was  all  in  the  grateful  and  gratulatory  vein. 
He  felt  that  after  four  months  of  trial  his  admin 
istration  was  strong  in  its  grasp  of  affairs,  strong 
in  popular  favor,  and  destined  to  grow  stronger ; 
that  grave  difficulties  confronting  him  at  his 
inauguration  had  been  safely  passed  ;  that  trouble 


THE    ORATOR.  99 

lay  behind  him  and  not  before  him  ;  that  he  was 
soon  to  meet  the  wife  whom  he  loved,  now 
recovering  from  an  illness  which  had  but  lately 
disquieted,  and,  at  times,  almost  unnerved  him  ; 
that  he  was  going  to  his  Alma  Mater  to  renew 
the  most  cherished  associations  of  his  young 
manhood,  and  to  exchange  greetings  with  those 
whose  deepening  interest  had  followed  every  step 
of  his  upward  progress  from  the  day  he  entered 
upon  his  college  course  until  he  had  attained  the 
loftiest  elevation  in  the  gift  of  his  countrymen. 

"  Surely,  if  happiness  can  ever  come  from  the 
honors  or  triumphs  of  this  world,  on  that  quiet 
July  morning  James  A.  Garfield  may  well  have 
been  a  happy  man.  No  foreboding  of  evil  haunted 
him  ;  no  slightest  premonition  of  danger  clouded 
his  sky.  His  terrible  fate  was  upon  him  in  an 
instant.  One  moment  he  stood  erect,  strong,  coa 
fident  in  the  years  stretching  peacefully  out  before 
him.  The  next  he  lay  wounded,  bleeding,  help 
less,  doomed  to  weary  weeks  of  torture,  to  silence, 
and  the  grave. 

"  Great  in  life,  he  was  surpassingly  great  in 
death.  For  no  cause,  in  the  very  frenzy  of  want 
onness  and  wickedness,  by  the  red  hand  of 
murder,  he  was  thrust  from  the  full  tide  of  this 
world's  interest,  from  its  hopes,  its  aspirations,  its 
victories,  into  the  visible  presence  of  death — and 
he  did  not  quail.  Not  alone,  for  the  one  short 
moment  in  which,  stunned  and  dazed,  he  could 


LIFE    OF    JAMES    G.  ELAINE. 

give  up  life,  hardly  aware  of  its  relinquishment, 
but  through  days  of  deadly  languor,  through 
weeks  of  agony,  that  was  not  less  agony  because 
silently  borne,  with  clear  sight  and  calm  courage, 
he  looked  into  his  open  grave.  What  blight  and 
ruin  met  his  anguished  eyes,  whose  lips  may  tell — 
what  brilliant,  broken  plans,  what  baffled,  high 
ambitions,  what  sundering  of  strong,  warm,  man 
hood's  friendships,  what  bitter  rending  of  sweet 
household  ties  !  Behind  him  a  proud,  expectant 
nation,  a  great  host  of  sustaining  friends,  a 
cherished  and  happy  mother,  wearing  the  full, 
rich  honors  of  her  early  toil  and  tears  ;  the  wife 
of  his  youth,  whose  whole  life  lay  in  his  ;  the  little 
boys  not  yet  emerged  from  childhood's  day  of 
frolic;  the  fair  young  daughter;  the  sturdy  sons 
just  springing  into  closest  companionship,  claim 
ing  every  day  and  every  day  rewarding  a  father's 
love  and  care  ;  and  in  his  heart  the  eager,  rejoicing 
power  to  meet  all  demand.  Before  him,  deso 
lation  and  great  darkness  !  And  his  soul  was  not 
shaken.  His  countrymen  were  thrilled  with 
instant,  profound,  and  universal  sympathy. 
Masterful  in  his  mortal  weakness,  he  became  the 
centre  of  a  nation's  love,  enshrined  in  the  prayers 
of  a  world.  But  all  the  love  and  all  the  sympathy 
could  not  share  with  him  his  suffering.  He  trod 
the  wine-press  alone.  With  unfaltering  front  he 
faced  death.  With  unfailing  tenderness  he  took 
leave  of  life.  Above  the  demoniac  hiss  of  the 


THE    ORATOR.  IOI 

assassin's  bullet  he  heard  the  voice  of  God.     With 
simple  resignation  he  bowed  to  the  divine  decree. 

"As  the  end  drew  near,  his  early  craving  for 
the  sea  returned.  The  stately  mansion  of  power 
had  been  to  him  the  wearisome  hospital  of  pain, 
and  he  begged  to  be  taken  from  its  prison  walls, 
from  its  oppressive,  stifling  air,  from  its  homeless- 
ness  and  its  hopelessness.  Gently,  silently,  the 
love  of  a  great  people  bore  the  pale  sufferer  to  the 
longed-for  healing  of  the  sea,  to  live  or  to  die,  as 
God  should  will,  within  sight  of  its  heaving  billows, 
within  sound  of  its  manifold  voices.  With  wan, 
fevered  face  tenderly  lifted  to  the  cooling  breeze, 
he  looked  out  wistfully  upon  the  oceans  changing 
wonders  ;  on  its  far  sails,  whitening  in  the  morn 
ing  light ;  on  its  restless  waves,  rolling  shoreward 
to  break  and  die  beneath  the  noonday  sun  ;  on 
the  red  clouds  of  evening,  arching  low  to  the  hori 
zon  ;  on  the  serene  and  shining  pathway  of  the 
stars.  Let  us  think  that  his  dying  eyes  read  a 
mystic  meaning  which  only  the  rapt  and  parting 
soul  may  know.  Let  us  believe  that  in  the  silence 
of  the  receding  world  he  heard  the  great  waves 
breaking  on  a  farther  shore,  and  felt  already 
upon  his  wasted  brow  the  breath  of  the  eternal 
morning." 

There  is  nothing  simpler  or  more  feeling  in  the 
English  language.  New  beauties  will  be  found 
in  it  as  it  is  read  over  and  over  again. 


JO2  'lilfE    OF    JAMES    G.  ELAINE. 

As  an  example  of  Mr.  Elaine's  directness,  force 
and  condensation  in  his  public  utterances,  the 
following  is  given,  and  a  stronger  platform  of 
principles  could  not  well  be  formulated.  Mr. 
Buchanan,  after  he  was  nominated  for  the  Presi 
dency,  wrote  :  "I  am  no  longer  James  Buchanan, 
but  the  Cincinnati  platform."  Mr.  Blaine,  how 
ever,  did  not  hesitate — long  in  advance — to  give 
his  political  creed,  thus  :  "  The  mighty  power  of  a 
republic  of  fifty  millions  of  people,"  said  he,  "with 
a  continent  for  their  possession,  can  only  be 
wielded  permanently  by  being  wielded  honestly. 
In  a  fair  and  generous  struggle  for  partisan  power 
let  us  not  forget  those  issues  and  those  ends  which 
are  above  party.  Organized  wrong  will  ultimately 
be  met  by  organized  resistance.  The  sensitive 
and  dangerous  point  is  in  the  casting  and  the 
counting  of  free  ballots.  Impartial  suffrage  is  our 
theory.  It  must  become  our  practice.  Any  party 
of  American  citizens  can  bear  to  be  defeated. 
No  party  of  American  citizens  will  bear  to  be 
defrauded.  The  men  who  are  interested  in  a 
dishonest  count  are  units.  The  men  who  are 
interested  in  an  honest  count  are  millions.  I  wish 
to  speak  for  the  millions  of  all  political  parties, 
and  in  their  name  to  declare  that  the  Republic 
must  be  strong  enough,  and  shall  be  strong 
enough,  to  protect  the  weakest  of  its  citizens  in 
all  their  rights." 


CHAPTER  VIII. 

THE    BRILLIANT    SPEAKER. 

THE  period  of  the  Speakership,  from  1869  to 
1875,  was,  all  things  considered,  the  most  brilliant 
of  Mr.  Elaine's  brilliant  career  up  to  the  present. 
The  office  is  legally  the  third  greatest  in  the 
government  of  the  United  States,  and  in  the 
hands  of  a  man  of  genius  it  easily  becomes  the 
second,  if  not  the  first,  in  importance.  Although 
the  House  of  Representatives  may  not  have  the 
same  "omnipotence  "  that  is  ascribed  to  the  Eng 
lish  House  of  Commons,  it  has  the  same  control 
over  the  money-power,  and  its  presiding  officer 
wields  an  influence  out  of  all  comparison  to  that 
of  his  English  compeer.  The  British  Speaker  is 
almost  a  machine,  and  to  him  the  satirical  descrip 
tion  aimed  by  the  well-known  humorist,  Mr.  Donn 
Piatt,  at  Mr.  Elaine,  is  more  truly  applicable,  "  two- 
thirds  parliamentary  law,  and  one-third  gavel." 
Mr.  Peel,  like  his  predecessors  for  centuries,  is 
not  subject  to  the  mutation  of  politics,  but  expects 
to  hold  his  place  like  a  judge  on  the  bench,  during 
good  behavior,  or  until  retired  after  twenty  years 
with  a  title  and  pension. 

The  American  Speaker  occupies  a  position  at 

103 


IO4  LIFE    OF   JAMES    G.  ELAINE. 

once  immensely  more  difficult  and  more  distin 
guished.  He  is  elected  by  the  party  in  the 
majority  at  the  time,  as  their  representative  and 
exponent,  yet  he  is  expected  to  preserve  judicial 
impartiality  toward  the  opposition,  who  watch  his 
every  word  and  act,  and  are  quick  to  protest 
against  what  they  consider  any  unfairness.  His 
control  over  all  kinds  of  legislation,  public  and 
private,  and  his  consequent  responsibility,  is  almost 
beyond  explanation  to  those  not  familiar  there 
with.  Two  points  will  suffice  to  give  an  idea 
of  his  power. 

In  the  first  place,  the  Speaker  alone  decides  the 
personnel  of  all  the  committees,  those  lesser 
Houses  of  Congress,  in  which  all  legislation  is 
digested  and  put  in  form,  where  the  initial  battles 
over  every  measure  are  fought,  and  which  by  their 
power  of  reporting,  or  not  reporting  bills,  posess 
a  veto  power  almost  equal  to  that  of  the  Presi 
dent.  The  Speaker  directs  absolutely  and  with 
out  appeal,  who  shall  be  chairman  of  each,  who 
shall  be  his  associates,  and  from  what  faction  or 
element  in  the  party  selected,  and  who  shall  rep 
resent  the  minority  element.  He  must  also 
assign  places  to  those  troublesome  political  non 
descripts  who  are  occasionally  sent  "up  by  erratic 
constituencies — Greenbackers,  Independents,  La 
bor  Party  men,  and  fanatics  of  all  shades,  who  do 
not  fit  into  any  regular  scheme.  A  power  so 
liable  to  abuse  or  mismangement  in  weak  or 


THE    BRILLIANT    SPEAKER.  1 05 

malicious  hands  has  often  caused  agitation  in  favor 
of  some  method  of  selecting  the  list  of  commit- 
teemen  by  balloting  in  caucus,  as  it  is  done  in  the 
Senate,  owing  to  the  regular  presiding  officer  there 
(the  Vice  President)  not  being  chosen  by  that 
body.  This  agitation  was  never  heard  of  while 
Mr.  Elaine  filled  the  Speaker's  chair. 

A  second  power,  inherent  in  the  place,  is  that 
of  recognizing  or  not  recognizing  those  who  rise 
with  the  intent  of  "  catching  that  desirable  disease, 
the  Speaker's  eye."  In  so  large  and  turbulent  a 
body  as  the  House,  it  is  not  to  be  supposed  that  the 
Speaker  allows  his  visual  orb  to  wander  at  ran 
dom,  hitting  whom  it  may,  and  awarding  that  man 
the  floor,  as  it  were,  by  lot.  This  method  would 
indeed  be  difficult  when  two  or  a  dozen,  or  indeed 
all  the  members,  appear  to  be  standing  at  once, 
clamoring  "Mr.  Speaker!"  in  that  hubbub  of 
different  notes  and  accents  that  so  confounds  the 
unaccustomed  visitor.  Partly  by  previous  arrange 
ment,  in  which  the  Speaker  must  constantly  use 
his  best  powers  of  discretion,  partly  by  rapid 
decision  in  his  own  mind,  he  singles  out  those 
whom  the  interests  of  the  party,  or  the  demands 
of  fairness,  entitle  to  the  honor,  and  thereby 
molds  the  expression  of  sentiment  as  well  as  the 
course  of  legislation  in  the  House,  save  so  far  as 
he  is  controlled  by  the  rules  or  by  long  custom, 
which  also  he  decides  upon  and  interprets. 

In  such  a  place,  Mr.  Elaine's  powers  and  dis- 
7 


106  LIFE    OF    JAMBS    G.  BLAINE. 

position  shone  resplendent.  Much  of  his  immense 
popularity  dates  from  this  era.  It  may  be  allowed 
to  dwell  for  a  moment,  with  renewed  admiration, 
upon  the  stirring  spectacle  which  was  presented 
by  the  greatest  speaker,  since  Henry  Clay,  in  this 
meridian  light.  Even  excluding  all  regard  for 
the  man,  an  enemy  would  have  been  fascinated 
and  delighted,  in  spite  of  rancor,  by  the  sheer 
intellectual  force  and  perfect  self-command  .dis 
played.  The  Speaker  seemed  born  to  preside 
over  just  such  an  assemblage  as  that  in  which  he 
found  himself.  Patient  in  the  tedious  passages 
of  debate  and  routine,  courteous  under  harrassing 
interruptions,  impartial  to  friend  and  chivalric  to 
foe,  he  rapidly  rose  with  the  rising  tide  of  excite 
ment  and  activity,  caused  by  important  business 
or  personal  feeling,  towering  to  his  full  height,  his 
voice,  with  something  of  the  ring  of  the  clarion  in 
it,  penetrating  the  loudest  tumult,  the  gavel  in  his 
practised  hand  chiming  in  with  varied  tones  that 
aptly  enforced  his  words,  from  the  sharp  rat-tat- 
tat  that  recalled  the  House  to  decorum,  to  the 
vigorous  thunder  that  actually  drowned  unpar 
liamentary  speech  ;  rulings,  repartee,  transcluent 
explanation  flashing  from  his  lips  as  quick  as 
lightning,  to  the  discomfiture  of  every  assailant 
who  tilted  against  him,  until,  with  the  whole  House 
in  full  cry,  the  waves  of  debate  rolling  and  surging 
around  the  base  of  the  marble  throne,  on  which 
the  Speaker  is  installed,  he  seemed,  like  the 


THE    BRILLIANT    SPEAKER.  1 07 

creature   of  Addison's   imagination,  to  "ride  on 
'the  whirlwind  and  direct  the  storm." 

This  is  not  the  language  of  exaggerated  praise, 
but  simply  an  attempt  to  convey  the  impression 
made  upon  every  spectator  who  could  understand 
anything   of  the   physical   and    intellectual    force 
involved.       Mr.  Elaine's  rulings  upon  the   com 
plicated    points    of  order   so    constantly   arising 
under   our   system    of    parliamentary    law,    and 
artfully  thrust  upon  every  Speaker,  by  rivals  in 
his  own  party  as  well  as  in  the  opposition,  had 
all  the  delightfulness  of  the  solution  of  a  difficult 
problem  in  logic  or  mathematics.      The  manner 
in  which  he  repeatedly  brought  order  out  of  chaos, 
or  cut  the  House  free  from  some  apparently  hope 
less  snarl,  with  a  dozen  Gordian  knots  in  it,  by  a 
few  sweeping  strokes,  right  and  left,  with  his  keen 
mental  blade,  and  started  business  forward  with  a 
grand  rush  often  drew  a  ripple  of  applause  from 
the  whole  House  and  the  galleries,  the  more  so 
that  he  never  seemed  to  pose  for  such  recogni 
tion.     Most  Speakers  are  carefully  coached,  either 
openly  or  on  the  sly,  by  the  subordinates  around 
them  at  the  desk,  but  Mr.  Elaine's  knowledge  of 
the  manual,  as  well  of  the  name  and  antecedents 
of  every  member  before  him,  seemed  to  be  instinc 
tive,  and    he    was  better  fitted  to  give    than  to 
receive  information  on  any  such  points.     His  feats 
in  this  particular  cannot  be  understood  without 
reference    to   the    marvelous    memory   and    the 


IO8  LIFE    OF   JAMES    G.  ELAINE. 

thoroughness  of  application  to  the  work  before 
him,  which  are  necessarily  mentioned  so  often  in 
writing  about  him.  As  he  had  prepared  for  his 
first  editorial  work,  by  mastering  the  important 
contents  of  his  journal  for  years  previously,  so  it 
is  probable  that  he  prepared  for  the  Speakership 
by  almost  committing  to  memory,  the  Digest  and 
rules  and  the  membership  list  of  the  three  succes 
sive  Congresses  in  which  he  was  Speaker. 

His  grip  on  the  order  of  business  and  the  exact 
bearings  of  a  complicated  tangle  of  amendments 
and  cross -motions,  was  equally  marvelous. 
Though  of  inferior  importance,  his  physical 
qualifications  are  not  unworthy  to  be  mentioned 
in  the  same  breath.  He  looked  as  if  fitted  by 
nature  for  his  station.  His  dexterity  and  quick 
ness  made  it  almost  amusing  to  see  him  count  the 
House  on  a  rising  vote,  and  country  visitors  stared 
with  wonder  at  the  splintered  trench  in  the  hard 
desk-lid,  carved  with  the  gavel,  backed  by  his 
sinewy  wrist,  at  each  annual  session.  Above  all, 
were  his  fairness  and  anxiety  to  do  right.  With 
out  a  sign  of  weakness  or  cowardice,  he  con 
ceded  to  every  member,  and  every  faction,  the 
same  courtesy  and  the  same  due  meed  of  recog 
nition.  Personally,  he  was  on  friendly  terms  with 
the  leaders  of  the  Democratic  minority,  for  his  par 
liamentary  wrangles  with  Mr.  Randall,  Mr.  Cox 
and  others,  though  he  often  turned  the  laugh  upon 
them  by  the  brightness  and  wittiness  of  his 


THE    BRILLIANT    SPEAKER.  1 09 

retorts,  were  of  a  nature  not  to  leave  a  sting 
behind.  It  was  sharp  give-and-take,  while  it  lasted, 
but  for  himself,  he  asked  no  odds,  and  he  took  no 
unfair  advantages.  He  never  used  the  great 
weight  of  his  position,  as  could  so  easily  have  been 
done,  to  bear  down  any  member,  however  weak 
and  friendless,  unless  that  member  had  made  him 
self  an  intolerable  nuisance,  and  the  whole  House 
sympathized  with  its  presiding  officer  in  suppres 
sing  him.  Still  more  wonderful,  Mr.  Elaine 
preserved  amity  with  the  leaders  of  his  own  party 
upon  the  floor,  who  were,  in  some  sense,  his  rivals, 
keeping  the  balance  of  power  with  them  and  among 
them,  without  drawing  their  resentment  upon  him 
self.  On  occasion  he  showed  that  he  was  a  leader, 
and  not  a  follower,  by  taking  a  vigorous  stand  to 
oppose  the  faction,  to  which  he  then  first  gave  the 
name  of  "Stalwart,"  who  pushed  on  the  measure, 
his  wisdom  knew  to  be  extreme,  in  the  "Bill  to 
protect  electors,"  better  known  as  the  Force  Bill, 
giving  President  Grant  the  right  to  suspend  the 
writ  of  habeas  corpus  at  pleasure  in  the  Southern 
States,  and  to  use  martial  law  in  suppressing  the 
Ku  Klux  Klan. 

Foreseeing  that  the  liberty-loving  sentiment  of 
the  North,  especially  in  the  "  doubtful  States," 
would  be  repelled  by  this  excessive  stretch  of  arbi 
trary  power,  Mr.  Blaine,  not  content  with  oppos 
ing  it  in  caucus,  deliberately  courting  the  risk  and 
cost  of  such  an  unusual  step,  came  down  from 


I  IO  LIFE    OF   JAMES    G.  ELAINE. 

the  Speaker's  chair,  and  threw  his  influence  upon 
the  floor  against  the  adoption  of  the  bill.  The 
after-cost  to  him  through  many  years  was  indeed 
great,  although  President  Grant  tacitly  admitted 
the  weight  of  his  argument  by  soon  after  refusing 
the  aid  of  the  army  to  Governor  Ames,  of  Missis 
sippi. 

All  this  added,  however,  to  Mr.  Elaine's  popu 
larity  with  men  whose  good  esteem  is  worth  hav 
ing,  and  after  his  party  had  been  washed  into  a 
minority  by  a  tidal  wave  caused  partly  by  not 
fully  adopting  the  moderation  he  advised,  his 
leave-taking  of  the  chair  was  an  extraordinary 
scene.  So  far  was  it  from  being  a  manifestation  of 
triumph  by  the  party  which  was  to  elect  his  suc 
cessor,  that  it  was  rather  an  occasion  of  deep 
feeling  over  the  loss  of  a  presiding  officer  who 
was  able,  impartial  and  well-liked,  and  who  had 
conferred  marked  dignity  and  lustre  on  the  place. 
Mr.  Elaine,  at  12  o'clock  noon  on  the  day  of 
the  dissolution  of  that  Congress,  delivered  the 
usual  valedictory  of  the  session  and  his  term  of 
office,  in  one  of  the  five  minute  speeches  which 
he  knows  so  well  how  to  adapt  to  the  occasion 
and  the  audience,  and  then,  declaring  the  House 
adjourned,  brought  down  his  gavel  hard  and  let  it 
fall  from  his  practised  hand.  Following  is  the 
record  of  his  closing  address  : 

Mr.  Elaine  said  :  "  Gentlemen  :  I  close  with  this 
hour  a  six  years'  service  as  Speaker  of  the  House 


THE    BRILLIANT    SPEAKER.  I  I  I 

of  Representatives — a  period  surpassed  in  length 
by  but  two  of  my  predecessors,  and  equaled  by 
only  two  others.  The  rapid  mutations  of  per 
sonal  and  political  fortune  in  this  country  have 
limited  the  great  majority  of  those  who  have  occu 
pied  this  chair  to  shorter  terms  of  office. 

"  It  would  be  the  gravest  insensibility  to  the  hon 
ors  and  responsibilities  of  life  not  to  be  deeply 
touched  by  so  signal  a  mark  of  public  esteem  as 
that  which  I  have  thrice  received  at  the  hands  of 
my  political  associates.  I  desire  in  this  last 
moment  to  renew  to  them,  one  and  all,  my-  thanks 
and  my  gratitude. 

"  To  those  from  whom  I  differ  in  my  party  rela 
tions — the  minority  of  this  House — I  tender  my 
acknowledgements  for  the  generous  courtesy  with 
which  they  have  treated  me.  By  one  of  those 
sudden  and  decisive  changes  which  distinguish 
popular  institutions,  and  which  conspicuously 
mark  a  free  people,  that  minority  is  transformed 
in  the  ensuing  Congress  to  the  governing  power 
of  the  House.  However  it  might  possibly  have 
been  under  other  circumstances,  that  event  neces 
sarily  renders  these  words  my  farewell  to  the 
Chair. 

''The  Speakership  of  the  American  House  of 
Representatives  is  a  post  of  honor,  of  dignity,  of 
power,  of  responsibility.  Its  duties  are  at  once 
complex  and  continuous  ;  they  are  both  onerous 
and  delicate  ;  they  are  performed  in  the  broad 


112  LIFE    OF   JAMES    G.  ELAINE. 

light  of  day,  under  the  eye  of  the  whole  people, 
subject  at  all  times  to  the  closest  observation,  and 
always  attended  with  the  sharpest  criticism.  I 
think  no  other  official  is  held  to  such  instant  and 
such  rigid  accountability.  Parliamentary  rulings 
in  their  very  nature  are  peremptory  ;  almost  abso 
lute  in  authority  and  instantaneous  in  effect.  They 
cannot  always  be  enforced  in  such  a  way  as  to 
win  applause  or  secure  popularity  ;  but  I  am  sure 
that  no  man  of  any  party  who  is  worthy  to  fill'this 
chair  will  ever  see  a  dividing  line  between  duty 
and  policy. 

"Thanking  you  once  more,  and  thanking  you 
cordially,  for  the  honorable  testimonial  you  have 
placed  on  record  to  my  credit,  I  perform  my  only 
remaining  duty  in  declaring  that  the  Forty-third 
Congress  has  reached  its  constitutional  limit, 
and  that  the  House  of  Representatives  stands 
adjourned  without  day." 

So  far  from  dispersing,  as  Mr.  Elaine  stepped 
lightly  down  from  the  rostrum,  the  crowded  assem 
blage,  floor  and  galleries,  rose,  and  greeted  him 
with  repeated  salvos  of  applause,  running  in 
waves  from  side  to  side,  with  almost  delirious 
cheering,  clapping  of  hands,  and  waving  of  hand 
kerchiefs.  Fully  five  minutes,  it  seemed,  he  was 
detained,  bowing  and  acknowledging,  with  emotion, 
this  tribute  to  the  record  he  had  made,  and  for 
full  half  an  hour  there  poured  toward  his  stand 
ing  place,  at  the  clerk's  desk,  a  constant  stream 


p 


THE    BRILLIANT    SPEAKER.  I  i  5 

of  members  and  citizens,  anxious  to  press  his 
hand  and  express  in  words  the  admiration  and 
regret  already  shown  in  signs.  None  who  were 
there  can  forget  the  impression  made  by  this 
scene. 

His  parliamentary  decisions  live  in  print,  and 
have  been  quoted  as  authority,  in  foreign  lands  as 
well  as  in  this,  but  the  gracefulness,  eloquence 
and  wit  with  which  they  are  delivered,  and  his 
whole  conduct  of  the  business  of  the  House, 
through  six  years  of  a  great  and  trying  period, 
can  only  be  left  to  the  memory  of  those  who  were 
actual  spectators. 


CHAPTER  IX. 

DARKER    DAYS. 

To  the  period  of  Mr.  Elaine's  triumphal  success 
as  Speaker  of  the  House  was  to  succeed  a  brief 
one  which,  unhappily,  afforded  an  almost  total 
contrast  of  gloom  and  adverse  circumstance.  But 
to  those  who  reflect,  it  will  show  his  innate 
greatness  of  mind  and  heart,  perhaps  even  more 
strongly  displayed  than  in  the  flush  of  his  success. 
If  it  be  not  pedantic  to  quote,  it  might  be  said 
that  he  had  taken  for  his  motto,  "  Ne  cede  malis,  sed 
contra  audentior  ito!"  His  wide  and  well-earned 
popularity  was  apparently  to  be  obscured,  at  least 
so  far  as  any  benefit  to  him  was  concerned.  Instead 
of  friendly  regards  from  both  parties,  the  Democ 
racy  were  to  be  more  stirred  up  against  him  than 
they  were  against  the  extremest  Radicals,  while 
he  was  cruelly  assailed  from  the  rear  by  a  cross 
fire  from  personal  factions,  which,  while  they  hated 
each  other,  hated  him  still  worse  for  his  towering 
eminence  as  a  presidential  candidate  ;  finally,  it 
seemed  as  if  the  stars  in  their  courses  were  fight 
ing  against  him,  when  the  midsummer  sun  struck 
him  prostrate  at  the  crisis  of  his  career,  upon  the 
steps  of  his  house  of  prayer, 

116 


DARKER    DAYS.  117 

It  is  almost  painful  to  write  of  this  portion  of 
his  life,  so  full  is  it  of  manifestations  of  human 
malice  and  depravity  against  him,  some  of  which 
still  survive;  and  the  story  is  relieved  only  by  Mr. 
Elaine's  manly  and  courageous  bearing,  under  all 
the  tempests  which  assailed  his  prospects,  and 
that  which  was  dearer  than  life  to  him — his 
unspotted  good  name. 

To  fully  explain  the  causes  of  the  position  in 
which  Mr.  Elaine  found  himself,  it  must  be  remem 
bered  what  kind  of  a  majority  it  was  which  the 
Democracy  sent  to  the  House  of  Representatives 
for  the  first  time  since  the  war.  The  lenity  which 
Mr.  Elaine  had  bravely  advised  toward  the  South, 
the  withdrawal  of  the  last  vestiges  of  that  military 
control  which  he  saw  would  not  be  supported  by 
the  sentiment  of  the  North,  had  left  the  old 
leaders  of  the  South  free  to  regain  power,  by 
intimidating  and  "counting  out,"  the  negro  vote. 
They  came  back  to  Congress  full  of  the  ideas 
which  had  prevailed  before  1861,  added  to  and 
embittered  by  the  memory  of  their  disastrous 
appeal  to  arms.  They  found  a  number  of  allies 
from  the  Northern  States  ready  to  meet  and  greet 
them,  the  usual  Republican  majority  from  that 
section  being  diminished  by  scandals  in  the  civil 
administration  of  the  government,  for  the  exist 
ence  of  which,  or  the  busy  stirring-up  they 
received  in  the  interests  of  a  particular  candidate 
for  the  Presidency,  Mr.  Elaine  was  in  no  wise 


Il8  LIFE    OF    JAMES    G.  BLAINE. 

responsible.  The  Southerners  naturally  thought 
old  times  had  revived  for  them  ;  that  they  could 
dominate  their  Northern  associates  as  of  yore, 
and  with  their  cooperation  guide  the  whole  coun 
try  into  any  policy  they  chose.  The  extraordinary 
number  of  ex-officers  of  the  Rebel  army  in  both 
branches  of  Congress,  caused  the  phrase  "the 
Rebel  brigadiers  "  to  become  a  by-word  in  speak 
ing  of  their  action.  They  expected  to  redress  all 
the  "  wrongs  "  they  had  suffered,  to  nullify  all  the 
legislation  of  the  war,  and  as  many  as  possible  of 
its  results,  and  with  the  fulcrum  of  a  solid  South 
(an  ominous  expression  then  first  heard),  to  gain 
the  Presidency,  and  sway  the  whole  Union. 
Unseemly  notes  of  triumph  were  heard  from  the 
hot  heads  among  them,  such  as  "  the  Confederacy 
is  in  the  saddle  again."  Their  ill-gotten  triumph 
was  abused  in  many  ways,  as  by  turning  out 
crippled  Union  soldiers  employed  about  the 
Capitol,  and  putting  in  former  wearers  of  the 
gray,  and  the  loyal  men  and  Republicans  seemed 
too  dispirited  to  resent  these  insults  to  their 
cause. 

Mr.  Elaine,  who  naturally  became  the  leader  of 
that  almost  "forlorn  hope,"  the  minority  in  the 
House,  saw  that  something  must  be  done  to  rouse 
his  party  and  the  country  from  apathy,  and  to  set 
the  full  results  of  the  expected  triumph  of  a  Solid 
South  over  a  divided  North,  in  the  proper  light. 
To  do  this  it  was  necessary  for  him  to  perform 


DARKER    DAYS.  !  1 g 

the  trying  manoeuvre  known  in  military  parlance 
as  "  drawing  the  enemy's  fire,"  a  dangerous  ser 
vice  not  attempted  for  bravado,  but  to  learn  the 
position  and  intentions  of  the  foe,  and  make  him 
betray  the  nature  and  armament  of  his  force. 
Occasions  were  soon  supplied  by  the  over 
weening  confidence  and  almost  insolence  of  the 
majority. 

One  of  the  most  cherished  notions  of  the 
re-united  ex-Confederate  and  Copperhead  Dem 
ocracy  was  what  was  known  as  General  Amnesty, 
or  the  sweeping  repeal  of  all  the  political  disabil 
ities  imposed  by  the  Fourteenth  Amendment  to 
the  Constitution,  upon  those  who,  having  once 
taken  the  oath  of  allegiance  as  a  civil  or  military 
officer  of  the  United  States,  or  any  State,  had 
engaged  in  rebellion  or  given  aid  or  comfort  to 
rebels.  This  very  mild  punishment  of  treason,  as 
Mr.  Elaine  showed  in  his  masterly  and  exhaustive 
argument  upon  it,  had  been  further  alleviated  by 
general  acts  of  limitation,  and  by  special  acts  for 
the  relief  of  individuals,  until  little  or  nothing 
remained.  It  only  applied,  in  the  first  instance, 
to  about  eighteen  thousand  men  in  the  South. 
The  first  relief  bill  passed,  removed  the  disability 
from  1578  citizens  of  the  South,  and  the  next  bill 
from  no  less  than  3526  at  one  swoop.  A  constant 
stream  of  smaller  bills  benefitting  one  or  more 
individuals  succeeded,  the  Republicans  having  all 
the  time  two-thirds  majority  in  both  branches, 


T2O  LIFE    OF    JAMES    G.  ELAINE. 

and  finally,  in  May,  1872,  a  general  law  was 
adopted,  removing  their  disabilities  from  all 
persons  except  members  of  the  36th  and  37th. 
Congresses,  officers  in  the  military,  judicial,  and 
naval  service  of  the  United  States,  heads  of 
Departments,  and  foreign  ministers  of  the  United 
States.  The  relief  of  individuals  still  continued, 
and  in  no  instance,  save  one,  was  relief  refused 
upon  the  presentation  of  a  respectful  petition, 
which  had  become  requisite  by  custom,  and  in  no 
instance,  save  one,  was  there  other  than  a  unan 
imous  vote. 

Not  content  with  all  this,  the  "  brigadiers  "  were 
intent  upon  blotting  out  the  last  vestige  of  pun 
ishment  for  treason  from  the  statute  book,  and 
wished  to  throw  the  pearl  of  citizenship  at  the  feet 
of  those  who  spurned  it,  and  still  gloried  in  open 
defiance  of  the  Government.  They  attempted  to 
put  their  action  on  the  ground  of  "  magnanimity," 
not  seeming  to  see  that  there  was  no  magnanim 
ity  in  a  set  of  men  extending  pardon  to  themselves, 
when  by  the  strange  fluctuations  of  politics,  they 
found  themselves  well  nigh  supreme  in  the  Gov 
ernment  they  had  fought  to  overthrow.  Mr. 
Elaine  saw  the  opportunity.  The  courage  and 
eloquence  which  he  displayed  in  meeting  it  will 
be  referred  to  further  on.  At  this  point  an 
outline  may  be  given  of  the  course  which  he 
pursued. 

Shoulder  to  shoulder  with  James  A.  Garfield,  a 


DARKER    DAYS.  121 

man  of  equal  kindliness  and  conservatism,  but 
who,  like  him,  never  confounded  those  qualities 
with  neglect  of  duty,  Mr.  Elaine  withstood  the  too 
confident  advance  of  the  Democratic  phalanx,  over 
the  trampled  memories,  gains  and  glories  of  the 
war,  just  as  he  had  withstood  the  advocates  of  the 
Force  Bill.  He  moved  to  except  from  the  oper 
ation  of  any  general  amnesty,  "  Jefferson  Davis, 
late  president  of  the  so-called  Confederate  States," 
and  also  to  require  that  all  those  availing  them 
selves  of  the  benefit  of  the  proposed  act  should 
take  the  oath  of  allegiance  in  some  Federal  court. 
The  reasons  for  the  second  proviso  were  obvious  : 
those  for  the  first  were  given  in  one  of  his  most 
earnest  speeches.  He  said  that  careful  investiga 
tion,  made  at  his  request,  had  showed  that  there 
were  still  under  disabilities  about  325  ex-officers 
of  the  army,  295  of  the  navy,  with  enough  under 
the  other  categories  in  the  act  of  1872  to  make 
about  750  in  all.  To  none  of  these,  so  far  as  he 
knew,  was  there  any  objection,  save  one,  and  he 
went  on,  with  his  usual  easy  ascent,  to  a  climax  of 
crushing  force,  that  he  did  not  aim  to  except  Jefferson 
Davis  because  that  person  was,  as  he  had  been  called, 
the  head  and  front  of  the  Rebellion  ;  on  that  score 
the  ex-President  was  no  more  nor  less  guilty  than 
thousands  of  others  already  amnested  ;  probably 
he  was  less  efficient  as  an  enemy  of  the  United 
States,  and  far  more  useful  as  a  disturber  of  the 
counsels  of  the  Confederacy  than  most  of  them. 


122  LIFE    OF    JAMES    G.  ELAINE. 

But  he  ought  to  be  excepted  on  the  ground,  that 
he  was  the  author,  44  knowingly,  deliberately, 
guiltily  and  willfully,  of  the  gigantic  murders  and 
crimes  of  Andersonville." 

Reference  to  this  fearful  prison-pen  at  once 
aroused  intense  excitement,  but  Mr.  Elaine  con 
tinued,  while  the  faces  of  the  ex-Confederate 
leaders  paled  with  rage,  as  they  understood  how 
they  were  driven  to  the  defensive,  that  he  had  read 
of  the  historic  horrors  of  past  times,  but  that  before 
God,  measuring  his  words,  he  could  declare  that 
neither  the  deeds  of  Alva  in  the  Low  Countries, 
nor  the  massacre  of  St.  Bartholemew's,  nor  the 
thumbscrews  and  engines  of  torture  of  the  Spanish 
Inquisition,  began  to  compare  in  atrocity  with  the 
hideous  crime  of  Andersonville.  He  was  here 
met  with  a  storm  of  mingled  applause  and  indig 
nant  protest,  but  his  preparation  had  been  as 
thorough  as  usual,  and  he  went  on  with  pitiless 
severity,  quoting  from  the  testimony  of  Southern 
witnesses  and  official  records,  nothing  extenuating, 
nor  setting  down  aught  in  malice,  and  wound  up 
with  this  fiery  sentence:  "I  hear  it  said,  'We 
will  lift  Mr.  Davis  again  into  great  consequence 
by  refusing  amnesty.'  That  is  not  for  me  to 
consider  ;  I  only  see  before  me,  when  his  name 
is  presented,  a  man  who,  by  the  wink  of  his  eye, 
by  a  wave  of  his  hand,  by  a  nod  of  his  head,  could 
have  stopped  the  atrocity  at  Andersonville.  Some 
of  us  had  kinsmen  there,  most  of  us  had  friends 


DARKER    DAYS.  123 

there,  all  of  us  had  countrymen  there,  and  in  the 
name  of  those  kinsmen,  friends  and  countrymen, 
I  here  protest,  and  shall  with  my  vote  protest, 
against  calling  back  and  crowning  with  the  honors 
of  full  American  citizenship  the  man  who  organ 
ized  that  murder." 

The  Southern  members  hastily  consulted 
together,  and  next  day  put  forward  Benjamin 
H.  Hill,  of  Georgia,  to  answer  the  champion 
of  the  Republicans.  In  many  respects,  this  was 
the  best  choice  they  could  have  made.  The 
Georgians  are  often  called  the  "  Yankees  of  the 
South,"  and  are  supposed  to  be  cooler  in  temper, 
more  business-like  and  abler  to  cope  in  sagacity 
with  their  Northern  brethern,  than  the  citizens  of 
the  other  cotton  states.  Mr.  Hill  was  not  a 
"  brigadier,"  but  had  been  a  member  of  the 
Confederate  Senate,  and,  it  was  believed,  of  rather 
a  conservative  stripe.  He  was  a  forcible,  even 
eloquent,  speaker,  and  a  man  of  wide  information 
and  experience  in  affairs. 

It  has  been  said,  both  by  those  who  approved 
Mr.  Elaine's  bold  course  and  those  who  deplored 
it,  that  it  was  a  mistake  for  the  Southern  leaders 
to  attempt  any  reply  to  him  ;  that  if  they  had  only 
remained  silent  his  speech  would  have  failed  of 
all  effect,  and  he  would  have  been  left  in  the 
position  of  a  foiled  disturber  of  the  peace.  This 
notion,  unjust  to  Mr.  Elaine,  proceeds  on  an 
inadequate  knowledge  of  the  facts  in  the  case. 

8 


124  LIFE    OF   JAMES    G.  ELAINE. 

If  the  Southern  leaders  had  entertained  no  sinister 
designs  upon  the  Government,  if  they  had  made 
no  exaggerated  promises  to  their  people  at  home, 
if  they  had  been  wholly  sincere  in  their  professions 
of  renewed  devotion  to  the  Union,  they  might, 
indeed,  have  preserved  a  lofty  silence  under  all 
that  Mr.  Elaine  could  say.  But  none  knew  better 
than  he  that  to  keep  silence  was  to  them  impossi 
ble,  and  he  was  determined  that  they  should  speak 
out  frankly  what  was  in  their  minds  and  hearts. 

Their  position,  for  one  thing,  would  have  been 
wholly  illogical.  They  were  determined  to  carry 
"  in  the  centennial  year,"  as  they  were  fond  of 
saying,  an  act  of  amnesty  which  should  actually 
drag  into  full  citizenship  men  who,  like  Robert 
Toombs,  publicly  spat  upon  and  reviled  the  prof 
fered  gift.  Mr.  Elaine  tendered  them  an  act  of 
amnesty  with  only  the  two  provisos  above  spoken 
of,  one  excepting  Jeff.  Davis,  the  other  requir 
ing  the  oath  of  allegiance.  To  justify  their  rejec 
tion  of  this  offer,  it  became  absolutely  necessary 
for  them  to  defend  Davis  from  the  charges 
brought  against  him,  and  in  so  doing  they  revealed 
their  whole  doctrine  and  belief  about  the  Civil 
War  and  its  results.  Moreover,  their  people  at 
home  would  not  have  been  satisfied  with  any 
policy  of  silence.  Few  or  none  of  the  Southern 
Congressmen  would  have  dared  to  face  their 

o  « 

constituents  after  allowing  such  a  speech  as  that 
of  the  "Maine  Yankee"  to  go  unanswered. 


DARKER   DAYS.  125 

First,  Mr.  S.  S.  Cox,  on  the  part  of  the  North 
ern  Democrats,  opened  the  attack  with  a  burst 
of  wit  and  raillery,  like  a  skirmish  of  light  horse, 
and  then  Mr.  Hill  advanced  in  massive  column, 
like  Pickett  at  Gettysburg.  The  line  which  he 
took  justified  all  Mr.  Elaine's  expectations.  It 
was  a  general  assault  upon  the  North.  Not 
content  with  arguing  that  Jefferson  Davis  was 
never  proven  guilty  of  complicity  with  Winder 
and  Wirz,  Mr.  Hill  went  on  to  argue  that  the  suf 
ferings  at  Andersonville,  Belle  Isle  and  Libbey 
were  due  to  the  unreasonable  refusal  of  the 
Federal  Government  to  exchange  prisoners,  and 
still  more  that,  the  Confederate  prisoners  at 
Elmira  and  elsewhere,  were  treated  quite  as 
badly  or  worse  ;  that  they  were  vaccinated  with 
impure  virus,  crowded  into  pest  houses  to  die  and 
buried  in  trenches.  He  wound  up  by  inveighing 
against  the  "'higher  law'  fanaticism  that  never 
kept  a  pledge  nor  obeyed  a  law,"  and  by  inviting 
the  men  of  the  North  to  join  with  those  of  the 
South  against  those  who  had  "  denounced  the 
Union  as  a  '  covenant  with  death  and  a  league 
with  hell,' '  evidently  meaning  the  old  Aboli 
tionists  and  their  successors  in  the  Republican 
party. 

The  next  day,  January  12,  1876,  Mr.  Garfield, 
with  a  thoroughness  of  preparation  resembling 
that  of  Mr.  Elaine,  delivered  one  of  his  grand 
speeches.  It  was  a  complete  vindication  of  the 


126  LIFE   OF   JAMES    G.  BLAINE. 

position  of  the  Republican  party  on  the  question 
of  amnesty.  Bringing  back  the  argument  from 
the  wide  range  which  Mr.  Hill  had  given  it  to  the 
exact  question  before  the  House,  Mr.  Garfield 
showed,  from  official  testimony,  nearly  all  from 
Southern  sources,  that  Jefferson  Davis  personally 
sent  the  infamous  Winder  to  Andersonville,  and 
obstinately  sustained  him  there  in  all  his  actions, 
against  the  protests  of  the  humane  officers,  sur 
geons,  inspectors  and  newspapers  of  the  South. 
Turning  to  the  question  of  Elmira,  he  cried,  "The 
lightning  is  our  witness ! "  and  showed  the 
despatches  that  had  poured  in  upon  him  in  answer 
to  the  infamous  charges,  of  course  made  upon 
hearsay,  contained  in  Mr.  Hill's  speech.  Finally, 
he  proved  that  the  alleged  refusal  of  the  Federal 
authorities  to  exchange  prisoners  was  caused  by 
the  refusal  of  the  Confederates  to  recognize  the 
brave  negroes  fighting  in  the  armies  of  the  Union 
as  entitled  to  the  rights  of  civilized  warfare. 

Mr.  Elaine  followed  in  a  summing-up  of  what 
had  been  established.  He  humorously  remarked 
that  the  gentleman  from  Georgia  reminded  him 
of  Horace  Greeley's  description  of  the  difficulties 
of  a  militia  general  on  parade  on  Broadway:  "he 
tries  to  keep  step  to  the  music  of  the  Union,  and 
dodge  his  fire-eating  constituency  in  Georgia." 
He  disposed  of  Mr.  Cox  by  citing  a  speech  of  that 
gentleman  during  the  war,  in  which  he  had  spoken 
of  the  "inhumane,  barbarous,  horrible  treatment 


DARKER    DAYS.  127 

inflicted  upon  our  soldiers  held  as  prisoners  by 
the  rebels,"  and  said  that  the  latter  had  ''made 
brutes  and  fiends  of  themselves."  Turning"  upon 
Mr.  Hill,  he  read  with  vehemence  a  resolution 
introduced  in  the  Confederate  Senate  in  October, 
1862,  by  "Senator  Hill,  of  Georgia,"  providing 
that  every  person  pretending  to  be  a  soldier  or 
officer  of  the  United  States  who  should  be  cap 
tured  on  the  soil  of  the  Confederate  States,  should 
be  presumed  to  have  come  with  intent  to  incite 
insurrection  and  abet  murder,  and,  unless  he  could 
prove  the  contrary,  should  suffer  death  ;  also  an 
act,  reported  by  the  same  gentleman,  for  inflicting 
the  penalty  of  death  upon  every  officer  command 
ing  negro  or  mulatto  troops  in  arms  against  the 
Confederate  States.  He  demanded  what ,  these 
meant,  to  which  there  was,  of  course,  no  reply. 
Before  closing,  Mr.  Elaine,  with  his  usual  chivalric 
generosity,  resented  a  remark  of  Mr.  Hill's,  which 
seemed  to  reflect  upon  the  President,  and  rebuked 
him  for  saying  in  effect  that  Jefferson  Davis  was 
no  more  responsible  for  Winder  and  Wirz  than 
General  Grant  for  McDonald  and  Joyce,  when,  in 
fact,  the  President  had  lately  made  his  famous 
memorandum,  "Let  no  guilty  man  escape." 
When  he  closed,  there  was  little  more  to  be  said 
for  or  againt  Andersonville,  with  its  dead-line,  its 
treeless  desert  open  to  the  sun,  its  single  stag 
nant  stream,  its  bloodhounds,  and  the  Florida 
artillery  ranged  in  line  to  fire  upon  the  stockade 


128  LIFE    OF   JAMES    G.  ELAINE. 

if  General  Sherman's  army  came  within  seven 
miles  distance. 

The  next  day,  the  i4th,  Mr.  Elaine  gave  a  little 
exhibition  of  that  parliamentary  skill  which  has 
made  part  of  his  fame,  and  also  rendered  him,  while 
he  remained  in  the  House,  something  of  a  terror 
to  other  occupants  of  the  Speaker's  chair,  and  to 
the  ill-led,  undisciplined  Democratic  majority 
which  he  confronted.  It  had  been  attempted  to 
force  through  the  General  Amnesty  bill  without 
debate,  but  it  failed  for  want  of  a  two-thirds  vote. 
This  gave  Mr.  Elaine,  although  in  the  minority, 
the  right  to  move  to  reconsider,  and  to  announce 
his  intention  of  offering  an  amendment  for  which, 
he  said,  his  side  would  vote.  All  the  debate 
was  founded  upon  this  motion.  He  finally  asked 
unanimous  consent  that  his  substitute  might  be 
considered,  with  the  privilege  to  both  parties  of 
offering  amendments.  Eager  to  signify  their 
resentment  toward  him,  the  Democrats  shouted 
objections,  and  it  was  thought  that  Mr.  Elaine 
was  for  once  disconcerted.  They  forgot  that  he 
still  had  complete  control  of  his  motion  to  recon 
sider,  on  which  no  action  had  been  taken,  and 
with  a  smile,  he  withdrew  it,  and  with  it,  all  chance 
of  continuing  the  debate  or  reviving  ''general 
amnesty"  for  that  session,  leatingthe  Democrats, 
as  it  were,  gasping  with  surprise. 

So  ended  the  great  debate.  One  very  similar 
ensued  in  the  Senate  in  March,  1879,  when  both 


DARKER    DAYS.  I2Q 

Mr.  Elaine  and  Mr.  Hill  had  been  promoted  to 
that  body  by  their  respective  states.  The 
question,  then,  was  over  the  exclusion  of  Jefferson 
Davis  by  name  from  the  benefits  of  the  pension 
bill  for  the  survivors  of  the  Mexican  war,  and  it 
will  be  remembered  that  the  late  Senator  Chand 
ler,  of  Michigan,  was  aroused  by  it  to  deliver  that 
five  minutes'  speech  of  burning  eloquence,  every 
word  of  which  seemed  to  come  straight  from  his 
indignant  heart,  and  which  forever  fixed  the  place 
of  Jefferson  Davis  in  all  rightful  public  opinion. 
It  was  a  tribute  to  the  tone  and  temper  in  which 
these  eminent  men,  the  regretted  Senator  from 
Georgia,  as  well  as  Mr.  Elaine,  conducted  this 
very  trying  discussion,  that  it  was  no  bar  to  their 
afterwards  becoming  the  closest  personal  friends. 
At  the  time,  the  effect  of  the  debate  was  most 
pronounced.  The  Republicans  and  loyal  men  of 
the  North  (whose  letters  of  approval  poured  in 
upon  their  advocate),  plucked  up  spirit  when  they 
found  that  they  need  not  tamely  submit  to  the 
revived  arrogance  of  the  South.  The  represen 
tatives  of  the  latter  section  almost  unconsciously 
took  a  more  considerate  tone  and  abated  some  of 
the  worst  of  their  pretensions.  Nevertheless,  they 
were  intensely  embittered  against  Mr.  Elaine ; 
though,  if  they  had  but  known  it,  he  had  done  them 
an  important  service  in  teaching  them  the  difficult 
lesson  of  moderation  for  the  future.  To  over 
throw,  either  in  general  debate,  or  in  the  tactics  of 


I3O  LIFE    OF    JAMES    G.   ELAINE. 

legislation,  an  adversary  so  thoroughly  armed  at 
all  points,  they  discovered,  after  very  few  attempts, 
to  be  impossible.  They  studied  out  a  more 
terrible  revenge,  which  it  would  be  easier  to  look 
back  upon  with  calmness  were  it  not  necessary  to 
think  that  rivals  of  Mr.  Blaine  almost  at  the  head 
of  the  official  household  of  his  own  party,  aided 
and  abetted  it  in  the  hope  of  clearing  the  way  for 
their  own  futile  ambition. 

It  was  an  era  of  investigations.  Imitating  the 
Credit  Mobilier  inquiry  which  Mr.  Blaine  had 
moved  for  his  own  vindication  while  Speaker,  the 
Democrats  in  the  House,  eager  to  justify  their 
charges  of  corruption  against  the  Republican 
party,  set  out  on  a  wild  hunt  for  something  wrong 
in  every  branch  of  the  public  service,  or  as  it  was 
sometimes  expressed,  cast  a  drag-net  which  they 
hoped  would  bring  to  light  some  piece  of  scandal 
that  would  benefit  their  cause.  Every  committee 
of  the  House  became  an  investigating  committee, 
and  instead  of  confining  itself  to  work  upon  legis 
lation,  summoned  and  examined,  at  great  expense, 
every  witness  they  thought  might  serve  their 
purpose.  A  certain  class  of  newspapers  and 
their  correspondents  entered  eagerly  into  the 
work,  set  the  committees  and  their  spies  on  new 
trails,  and  published  every  fact  and  rumor  in 
exaggerated  form.  Everybody  was  investigated, 
from  heads  of  departments  to  private  citizens  who 
had  formed  a  pool  to  buy  real  estate. 


DARKER    DAYS,  131 

It  is  needless  to  say  that,  up  to  this  time,  no 
breath  of  suspicion  had  touched  Mr.  Elaine.  Me 
had  come  through  the  troublous  years  during  and 
after  the  war,  when  so  many  fell  into  temptation, 
without  even  a  smell  of  fire  upon  his  garments. 
Not  a  whisper  was  heard  against  his  fame  as  an 
honest  and  disinterested  legislator.  Those  who 
knew  him  best  in  his  own  State  were  most  con 
fident  of  his  integrity  and  proudest  of  his  record. 

But  the  National  Convention  of  1876  was 
rapidly  approaching.  The  waves  of  enthusiasm 
for  the  candidacy  of  Elaine  were  already  rolling 
high  in  Pennsylvania  and  other  great  States,  and 
they  were  not  diminished  by  the  humiliation  he 
had  inflicted  on  the  towering  pride  of  the  Southern 
leaders  in  Congress.  "  Reform "  candidates, 
" machine"  candidates,  and  candidates  of  all 
kinds  were  at  a  discount  compared  with  the 
people's  candidate  whose  name  was  upon  every 
tongue.  It  was  necessary  to  dispose  of  him  in 
some  way,  and  the  baffled  brigadiers  were  easily 
persuaded  to  turn  upon  him  one  or  more  of  those 
mud  machines — their  investigating  committees. 

Representative  J.  Proctor  Knott,  of  Kentucky, 
was  pushed  on  by  both  these  elements,  to  under 
take  the  task  of  demolishing  Mr.  Elaine  in  repu 
tation  and  prospects.  The  time  was  selected 
shortly  before  the  meeting  of  the  Convention,  so 
that  he  might  be  aspersed,  and  yet  have  no  oppor 
tunity  to  answer.  The  charges  were  first  spread 


132  LIFE    OF    JAMES    G.  ELAINE. 

through  the  public  press   in   the   form  of  vague 
innuendo    and    surmise,    so    that   it   was    almost 
impossible  to  fix  upon  anything  definite  to  contra 
dict,  while  yet  the   public   mind   was   put  on   the 
alert  to    receive    something    further,    and    hints 
were    given    that   astonishing    revelations   would 
shortly   be    made.     By    degrees    the    allegations 
narrowed  down  to  some  degree  of  definiteness. 
It  was  not  charged  that  Mr.  Elaine  was  a  perjurer, 
a  defaulter,  a  swindling  contractor,  or  an  oppressor 
of  the  poor ;  his  moral   character  in   private  life 
was  admitted  to  be  above  reproach  ;  but  the  head 
and  front  of  his  offending  was  that  he  had  held 
stock  or  bonds  of  certain  Western  railways,  and 
it  was  charged  that  he  was  unduly  favored  in  his 
investments,    on   account  of  his   official  position. 
The  first  accusations  of  this  kind  brought  to  his 
notice    were    "  like    a   dewdrop    from    the    lion's 
mane,  shaken  to  air."     It  was  published  that  Mr. 
Elaine  had  been  mixed  up  in   a  transaction  with 
Thomas   A.    Scott,  then   president  of  the   Union 
Pacific    Railroad    Company,    by    which    he    had 
received,  in  some  way,  for  some  reason  not  stated, 
$64,000  in  cash,  through   the  banking  house   of 
Morton,  Bliss  &  Co.     Rising  in  his  place,  on  April 
24th,  1876,  Mr.  Elaine  not  only  denied  the  story 
in  all  its  Protean  forms,  but  exhibiting  telegrams 
from  the   treasurer  and   president  of  the   Union 
Pacific,    from    Morton,    Bliss    &    Co.,    and    from 
Thomas  A,  Scott,  proving  its  utter  falsity.     He 


DARKER    DAYS.  133 

then  went  on,  voluntarily,  to  explain  his  connec 
tion  with  the  Little  Rock  and  Fort  Smith  Railroad 
Company,  on  which  the  charge  had  partly  been 
founded,  showing  that  he  had  invested  as  any 
private  citizen  or  business  man  has  a  right  to 
invest  his  funds,  and  instead  of  a  gainer  had  been 
a  heavy  loser  by  the  venture.  He  concluded  in 
these  words  :  "  I  am  now,  Mr.  Speaker,  in  the 
fourteenth  year  of  a  not  inactive  service  in  this 
Hall.  I  have  taken  and  given  blows.  I  have  no 
doubt  said  many  things  in  the  heat  of  debate 
which  I  would  now  gladly  recall.  I  have  no  doubt, 
given  votes,  which  in  fuller  light  I  would  gladly 
change.  But  I  have  never  done  anything  in  my 
public  career,  for  which  I  could  be  put  to  the  faint 
est  blush  in  any  presence,  or  for  which  I  can 
not  answer  to  my  constituents,  my  conscience  and 
the  great  Searcher  of  hearts." 

On  the  ist  of  May  Mr.  Elaine  was  called  upon 
to  deny  another  fabrication,  which  had  appeared 
in  that  consistently  hostile  sheet,  the  New  York 
Herald.  It  was  to  the  effect  that  he  had  received 
as  a  gift,  certain  bonds  of  the  Kansas  Pacific 
Railroad,  that  there  were  witnesses  of  the  transfer 
to  him,  and  that  he  was  concerned  in  a  suit  about 
them  in  the  courts  of  Kansas.  Mr.  Elaine  again 
went  to  the  trouble  of  obtaining  letters  from  all 
these  pretended  "witnesses,"  Messrs.  Stewart  and 
Riddle,  prominent  lawyers  in  Washington,  and 
Messrs,  Gibson  and  Macfarland,  newspaper  cor- 


134  LIFE    OF    JAMES    G.  ELAINE. 

respondents,  expressly  denying  that  they  knew  of 
any  such  affair  ;  and  General  Thomas  Ewing  wrote 
from  Lancaster,  O.,  that  the  Mr.  Elaine  suing  in 
Kansas  was  John  E.  Elaine,  brother  of  the  Ex- 
Speaker,  an  early  settler  in  the  state,  who  had 
bought  stock  in  the  Kansas  Pacific  before  his  elder 
brother  was  even  nominated  for  Congress.  Mr. 
Elaine  concluded  his  personal  explanation  thus  : 
"  Having  now  noticed  the  two  that  have  been  so 
extensively  circulated,  I  shall  refrain  from  calling 
the  attention  of  the  House  to  any  others  that  may 
be  invented.  To  quote  the  language  of  another, 
'  I  do  not  propose  to  make  my  public  life  a  per 
petual  and  uncomfortable  flea-hunt,  in  the  vain 
effort  to  run  down  stories  which  have  no  basis  in 
truth,  which  are  usually  anonymous,  and  whose 
total  refutation  brings  no  punishment  to  those  who 
have  been  guilty  of  originating  them.'  ' 

The  very  next  day  a  resolution  was  introduced 
in  the  House  to  investigate  an  alleged  purchase 
by  the  Union  Pacific  Railroad  Company  for  a 
price  "in  excess  of  their  actual  or  market  value" 
of  certain  bonds  of  the  Little  Rock  and  Fort 
Smith  Railroad.  Mr.  Tarbox,  of  Massachusetts 
(who  defeated  and  succeeded  "Ben."  Butler), 
personally  assured  Mr.  Frye  that  the  resolution 
was  not  aimed  at  his  colleague,  Mr.  Elaine,  and 
it  was  adopted  without  objection.  Almost  the 
moment  the  inquiry  began  it  was  apparent  that 
it  was  aimed  wholly  at  Mr,  Blame.  He  did  not 


DARKER    DAYS.  135 

complain  of  this.  The  gentleman  from  whom  he 
had  previously  received  telegrams  appeared  in 
person  and  fully  vindicated  him.  He  asked  only 
for  an  early  report  to  the  House  and  the  country 
to  which  he  was  entitled  in  justice  ;  but  with 
evident  malice  the  proceedings  were  allowed  to 
drag  and  drag  until,  when  all  the  witnesses  pos 
sible  had  been  called,  the  sub-committee  of  the 
committee  on  the  Judiciary,  who  had  the  matter 
in  charge,  suddenly  turned,  under  the  pretext  of 
a  general  " drag-net"  resolution  adopted  in  the 
previous  January,  to  investigate  a  transaction  of 
the  Northern  Pacific  Railroad  Company,  on  a 
newspaper  report  that  there  had  been  some  effort 
by  Mr.  Elaine  to  procure  a  share  in  that  road  for 
a  friend  in  Boston.  While  this  particular  mud- 
machine  was  at  work,  a  masked  battery  of  the 
same  kind  in  another  part  of  the  Capitol,  known 
as  the  Real  Estate  Pool  Committee,  was  desper 
ately  endeavoring  to  find  ammunition  for  a  third 
assault  on  the  Maine  statesman,  without  giving 
him  the  slightest  notice  or  opportunity  to  defend 
himself. 

An  exposure  of  Mr.  Elaine's  private  correspond 
ence  was  promised,  and  some  witnesses  from 
Boston,  named  Fisher  and  Mulligan,  were  sum 
moned  to  Washington  to  disclose  all  they  knew. 
The  lovers  of  scandal,  for  the  sake  of  scandal, 
were  almost  crazed  with  delight  at  the  prospect  of 
the  revelations.  The  whole  phase  of  the  question 


136  LIFE    OF   JAMES    C.  BLAINE. 

was  changed,  however,  by  the  fact  that  Mr.  Elaine 
possessed  himself  of  the  letters,  and  of  a  memo 
randum,  prepared  by  one  of  the  witnesses,  giving 
an  abstract  of  them.  Many  of  Mr.  Elaine's  friends 
thought  for  the  day  that  he  had  obtained  control 
of  the  letters  to  prevent  their  publication,  and 
were  inclined  to  believe  that  he  had  committed  a 
very  grave  blunder. 

The  sub-committee  made  a  demand  upon  Mr. 
Elaine  for  his  letters.  He  produced  in  reply  the 
opinion  of  two  distinguished  counsel,  the  one  a 
Republican,  the  other  a  Democrat,  ex-Judge 
Black  and  Hon.  Matt.  H.  Carpenter,  that  the 
letters  were  his  own,  and  that  no  power  could 
rightfully  force  him  to  give  them  up.  The  com 
mittee  did  not  venture  to  provoke  a  contest  with 
him  on  the  legal  question,  or  even  to  report  his 
refusal  to  the  House,  but  of  course  the  air  was  at 
once  filled  with  the  most  outrageous  slanders  as 
to  what  the  letters  contained,  and  they  were  made, 
if  possible,  to  do  more  mischief  by  their  disap 
pearance  than  by  their  unjustifiable  production. 

It  was  now  the  5th  of  June,  and  Mr.  Elaine's 
enemies  began  to  triumph  in  the  hope  of  his  easy 
defeat  at  Cincinnati.  On  that  clay  he  electrified 
his  persecutors  and  the  country  by  producing  and 
reading  in  the  House  of  Representatives,  with 
scathing  comment,  the  very  letters  upon  which  so 
much  reliance  had  been  placed.  This  has  been 
described  as  an  act  of  bravado,  but  no  one  can 


DARKER   DAYS.  137 

read  the  faithful  report  of  what  he  said  upon  the 
occasion,  dismissing  all  prejudice  from  .mind, 
without  being  impressed  with  the  accent  of  deep 
feeling,  the  heart-beats  of  a  proud  and  honest 
man,  unfairly  driven  to  bay,  which  seem  to  throb 
in  every  word.  He  described  the  manner  in 
which  he  had  been  pursued  by  "  investigations," 
culminating  in  the  Mulligan  episode  and  its  sequel. 
He  said  that  with  due  respect  to  the  powers  of 
this  House,  he  defied  them  to  compel  him  to  pro 
duce  the  letters.  His  right  to  control  his  private 
correspondence  was  as  sacred  as  his  rights  over 
the  nurture  of  his  children.  But,  ready  for  any 
extremity  of  contest  or  conflict  in  behalf  of  so 
sacred  a  right,  he  was  not  afraid  to  show  the 
letters.  "Thank  God  Almighty,"  he  cried,  "I 
am  not  ashamed  to  show  them.  There  they  are," 
brandishing  the  package  in  the  faces  of  the 
astounded  Democrats,  while  the  House  and  the 
crowded  galleries  shook  with  thunders  of  applause 
from  his  excited  friends.  "There  is  the  very 
original  package.  And  with  some  sense  of 
humiliation,  with  a  mortification  that  I  do  not  pre 
tend  to  conceal,  with  a  sense  of  outrage  which  I 
think  any  man  in  my  position  would  feel,  I  invite 
the  confidence  of  forty-four  millions  of  my 
countrymen  while  I  read  those  letters  from  this 
desk." 

It  took  some  time  for  the  officers  of  the  House 
and  the  Speaker  pro  temporc  (unfortunately  the 


138  LIFE   OF   JAMES    G.  BLAINE. 

Speaker,  the  dignified  and  respected  Michael  C. 
Kerr,  was  now  suffering  from  the  illness  which 
afterward  proved  fatal),  to  bring  order  out  of  the 
confusion  which  ensued.  The  letters,  full  of  per 
sonal  matters  of  Mr.  Elaine's  business  difficulties 
and  other  confidential,  but  never  criminating 
details,  were  then  read  by  him.  It  is  unnecessary 
to  repeat  them  here.  Fair-minded  men  have  long 
since  agreed  in  an  opinion  of  their  harmlessness. 
The  few  sentences  in  the  whole  collection  which, 
detached  from  the  context,  twisted  and  perverted 
by  malicious  minds  and  tongues,  could  bear  the 
slightest  evil  import,  have  had  the  changes  rung 
upon  them  ad  nauseam.  It  must  be  remembered 
that  these  letters  were  picked  out  of  correspon 
dence  extending  over  fifteen  years.  "The  man 
did  his  worst,  the  very  worst  he  could,"  as  Mr. 
Elaine  justly  said,  "out  of  the  most  intimate  busi 
ness  correspondence  of  my  life.  I  ask,  gentle 
men,  if  any  of  you,  and  I  ask  it  with  some  feeling, 
can  stand  a  severer  scrutiny  of,  or  more  rigid 
investigation  into  your  private  correspondence  ? 
That  was  the  worst  he  could  do." 

A  still  more  cutting  exposure  was  in  store  for 
the  ex-Confederates  and  their  allies.  Only  one 
witness  was  lacking  for  Mr.  Elaine  to  clo  what  can 
so  seldom  be  done  by  the  accused,  affirmatively 
prove  his  innocence.  Mr.  Josiah  Caldwell,  who 
had  knowledge  of  the  exact  transactions  in  con 
troversy,  was  traveling  in  Europe.  Eoth  Mr. 


DARKER   DAYS.  139 

Blaine  and  the  committee  were  seeking  his  address, 
the  one  to  fully  vindicate  himself,  the  other  in  the 
hope  that  something  damaging  might  yet  be 
developed.  After  the  reading  of  the  letters  was 
completed,  Mr.  Blaine  turned  upon  Mr.  Knott, 
the  chairman  of  the  Judiciary  committee,  and 
demanded  whether  the  committee  had  sent  a 
despatch  to  Mr.  Caldwell.  Mr.  Knott  faltered  :  he 
said,  "  Judge  Hunton  and  myself  have'  both 
endeavored  to  get  Mr.  Caldwell's  address,  and 
have  not  yet  got  it." 

"  Has  the  gentleman  from  Kentucky  received  a 
despatch  from  Caldwell  ?  "  asked  Mr.  Blaine,  with 
visibly  rising  indignation. 

"  I  will  explain  that  directly,"  replied  Mr. 
Knott. 

"  I  want  a  categorical  answer." 

o 

"  I  have  received  a  dispatch  purporting  to  be 
from  Mr.  Caldwell." 

"You  did?" 

"How  did  you  know  I  got  it?"  queried  Mr. 
Knott. 

"  When  did  you  get  it?  "  was  the  sharp  response. 
"  I  want  the  gentleman  from  Kentucky  to  answer 
when  he  got  it." 

"Answer  my  question  first." 

"I  never  heard  of  it  until  yesterday." 

"  How  did  you  hear  it  ?  " 

"  I  heard  you  got  a  despatch  last  Thursday 
morning  at  eight  o'clock,  from  Josiah  Caldwell, 


140  LIFE   OF  JAMES   G.  ELAINE. 

completely  and  absolutely  exonerating"  me  from 
this  charge,"  cried  Mr.  Blaine,  with  a  blaze  of 
wrath  no  longer  repressed,  "  and,"  striding  down 
the  aisle  and  launching  the  full  force  of  the  accu 
sation  right  in  the  faces  of  his  would-be  persecutors, 

"  YOU  HAVE  SUPPRESSED  IT  !  " 

The  mere  tone  and  gesture  of  the  man  would 
have  carried  away  an  audience  less  excited  and 
wrought-up  than  the  one  that  heard  him,  or  one 
less  devoted  to  fair  play,  than  an  assemblage  of 
so  many  Americans.  Taken  altogether,  with  the 
whole  occasion  that  had  inspired  it,  and  the  pop 
ularity  of  the  orator  who  had  assumed  the  aggres 
sive  so  effectively,  the  sensation  produced  was 
something  indescribable.  Another  wild  storm  of 
applause  greeted  the  ex-Speaker. 

"  I  want  the  gentleman  to  answer,"  he  persisted, 
with  stern  emphasis,  and  then  after  an  ominous 
pause.  "  Does  the  gentleman  from  Kentucky 
decline  to  answer?" 

The  Speaker  pro  temporc  came  to  the  rescue  of 
his  overwhelmed  and  speechless  party  associates, 
with  the  demand  that  order  be  restored  and 
unauthorized  persons  removed  from  the  floor  of 
the  hall. 

The  contest  was  then  renewed  over  Mr.  Elaine's 
motion  that  the  suppressed  despatch  should  be 
brought  to  light,  and  should  be  printed  with  the 
volume  of  the  testimony  taken  by  the  committee. 

By  every  device  of  parliamentary  tactics  and 


DARKER    DAYS. 


with  the  strength  of  their  majority,  the  Democrats 
fought  against  this  simple  measure  of  justice,  and 
were  as  firmly  withstood  by  Mr.  Elaine,  contending 
almost  single-handed  for  the  prompt  and  timely 
vindication  to  which  he  was  entitled.  So  far  did  he 
tower  above  his  petty  assailants,  and  so  often  did 
he  seem  almost  to  sweep  them  before  him  in  the 
torrent  of  his  just  resentment,  that  it  will  be 
remembered  Mr.  John  Young  Brown,  of  Ken 
tucky,  was  led,  a  few  days  later,  June  9,  to  rise 
and  inquire  in  a  disgusted  tone  of  the  Speaker 
pro  tern: 

"I  want  simply  to  know  whether  this  is  the 
American  Congress  — 

"  That  is  what  I  want  to  know,"  interjected  Mr. 
Elaine,  with  his  usual  quickness. 

11  —  Or  a  school  in  which  we  are  merely  pupils 
of  the  schoolmaster  from  Maine  ?  " 

"  It  is  the  most  surprising  American  Congress 
that  ever  assembled,"  said  the  "schoolmaster 
from  Maine,"  in  a  tone  of  frank  explanation  that 
again  evoked  the  cheers  and  laughter  that  relieved 
the  overstrained  nerves  of  the  immense  audience, 
in  which  Mr.  Elaine  was  probably  the  most  self- 
possessed  individual. 

The  final  result  of  these  investigations  was-  a 
negative  instead  of  an  affirmative  acquittal  of 
Mr.  Elaine.  There  was  a  general  feeling  among 
men  of  all  parties  that  it  was  unfair  to  drag  the 
private  correspondence  of  any  man  before  the 


142  LIFE   OF   JAMES    G.  ELAINE. 

public,  and  that  if  such  invasion  of  personal  right 
were  approved  by  the  popular  opinion  of  the 
country,  it  would  lead  to  scandals  innumerable, 
which  in  turn  might  be  followed  by  tragedies  the 
most  deplorable.  The  American  sense  of  fair 
play,  which  is  always  to  be  trusted,  decided  that 
a  public  man  does  not  give  up  his  private  rights, 
and  that  among  the  sacred  of  private  rights  is  the 
right  of  every  man  to  control  his  own  personal 
correspondence. 

After  the  Cincinnati  Convention  the  investiga 
tions  simply  died  a  natural  death  or  were  allowed 
to  drop.  The  public  opinion  of  the  country  was 
very  decidedly  against  the  whole  proceeding,  and 
the  Democrats  themselves,  finding  that  they  had 
been  put  into  a  false  position  by  their  leaders, 
became  discontented  at  the  course  of  Mr.  Knott 
and  his  associates.  The  best  elements  in  the 
party  called  for  a  halt  in  the  proceedings. 

The  result  of  the  combined  attempt  to  put  down 
the  people's  favorite,  and  keep  him  down,  would 
have  been  a  complete  failure,  except  for  an  occur 
rence  which  no  one  for  a  moment  expected. 

On  the  close  and  oppressive  Sunday  before  the 
nominating  Convention  met,  Mr.  Elaine,  despite 
the  strain  to  which  he  had  been  subjected,  and 
which  tested  even  his  remarkable  physique  to  the 
utmost,  went,  accoVcling  to  his  custom,  to  the  Con 
gregational  Church,  in  Washington.  The  church 
faces  South  and  in  ascending  the  broad  unshaded 


DARKER   DAYS.  143 

steps,  in  the  full  beams  of  an  unseasonably  torrid 
sun,  Mr.  Elaine,  without  warning,  reeled  and  fell. 
He  was  quickly  raised  and  carried  back  to  his 
home,  where  he  lay  insensible,  with  all  that  match 
less  eloquence  silenced,  that  vigor  paralyzed,  and, 
to  the  anxious  eyes  of  friends,  his  life  hanging  in 
the  balance  during  two  days,  while  his  rivals  did 
their  worst  against  his  prospects  at  Cincinnati. 
The  Convention  was  distracted  between  hopes 
and  fears.  Dr.  D.  W.  Bliss  (who  afterwards  at 
tended  President  Garfield)  soon  pronounced  his 
distinguished  patient  out  of  danger.  Other  re 
ports  were  busily  spread  in  the  Convention.  It 
was  whispered  about  that  even  if  the  prospective 
standard-bearer  escaped  death,  his  mind  would 
never  be  the  same  grand  organ  that  it  had  been, 
a  wholly  baseless  canard,  which  time  has  abund 
antly  refuted.  Unfortunately  it  had  its  effect,  in 
alarming  some  of  the  delegates,  and  though  Gen 
eral  Logan,  who  was  present  from  Illinois,  gener 
ously  cried  :  "We  will  vote  for  his  corpse  if  he 
dies,"  his  friends  met  with  their  first  great,  bitter 
disappointment.  None  of  his  avowed  rivals  tri 
umphed  over  the  prostrate  giant,  but  the  "dark 
horse"  policy  resulted  in  the  nomination  of  Mr. 
Hayes. 

Mr.  Elaine  received  on  the  first  ballot  285  votes, 
lacking  93  of  the  nomination.  On  the  seventh 
ballot  his  vote  rose  to  345,  or  33  less  than  a 
majority.  When  the  news  came  of  the  Conven- 


144  LIFE    OF    JAMES    G.  ELAINE. 

tion's  choice,  he  alone  of  the  little  group  in  his 
sick  room,  retained  perfect  composure,  and  after 
a  slight  exclamation  of  surprise,  wrote  the  proper 
despatches  of  congratulation  to  the  candidate,  and 
thanks  to  his  own  supporters. 

It  may  be  remarked,  in  passing,  that  the  story 
that  his  sun-stroke  saved  him  from  further  inves 
tigation  by  Congress  is  cruelly  and  absurdly  false. 
The  investigations  had  spent. themselves,  and  their 
promoters  had  taken  care  to  do  all  in  their  power 
before  the  Convention  met.  His  sudden  attack 
of  vertigo  was  an  unmingled  misfortune,  first  to 
his  physical  health  at  the  time,  and  second  to  the 
devoted  friends  who  had  set  their  hearts  upon  his 
nomination. 


CHAPTER  X. 

SECRETARY    OF    STATE. 

IT  is  a  notable  circumstance  to  which  Mr.  Elaine 
has  often  adverted,  that  upon  first  entering  Con 
gress  he  gained,  by  a  series  of  coincidences,  two 
firm  and  valued  friends,  the  regard  of  the  three 
for  one  another  never  afterwards  suffering  dimi 
nution  or  a  shadow  of  change.  Upon  standing 
up  to  be  sworn  in  he  found  himself  side  by  side 
with  a  Mr.  Allison  of  Iowa,  and  a  Mr.  Garfield  of 
Ohio,  who,  like  himself,  were  entering  upon  a  new 
experience.  The  three  were  entire  strangers  to 
one  another.  When  the  seats  came  to  be  drawn 
they  found  that  they  were  again  thrown  in  close 
proximity,  almost  within  arm's  length,  near  the 
centre  aisle.  They  walked  down  from  the  Capi 
tol  together,  on  their  way  to  their  respective  lodg 
ings  on  the  first  day  of  their  service,  and  if  their 
conversation  was  not  on  such  lofty  themes  as  the 
reader  might  expect  from  their  characters,  it  was 
on  a  topic  that  led  more  quickly  to  intimacy  and 
good-humor — the  price  and  quality  of  board  in 
over-crowded  Washington.  All  were  before  many 
years  talked  of  as  Presidential  possibilities  ;  one 
of  them  filled  the  high  office  and  perished  in  it,  and 

145 


146  LIFE    OF    JAMES    G.  ELAINE. 

another  is  now  the  Republican  candidate.  This 
never  made  them  rivals.  On  the  contrary,  the 
grand  qualities  they  had  in  common — warm-heart 
edness,  fidelity,  trustfulness — drew  them  ever  into 
firmer  alliance,  broken  only  by  the  sad  death  of 
the  one,  in  the  chief  place  in  whose  cabinet 
another  of  the  three  had  been  installed. 

Nearly  all  of  Mr.  Elaine's  closer  friends  were 
surprised  at  his  decision  to  accept  the  office  of 
Secretary  of  State,  and  many  regretted  his  con 
clusion,  abandoning,  as  he  did,  the  brilliant  career 
open  to  him  in  the  Senate  of  the  United  States, 
where  he  could  have  remained,  by  repeated  elec 
tions,  during  the  remainder  of  his  life. 

It  will  be  remembered  that  Mr.  Garfield  visited 
Washington  in  November  after  his  election.  In 
a  quiet  upper  room  in  Mr.  Elaine's  Fifteenth  street 
house,  late  in  that  month,  Mr.  Garfield  and  Mr. 
Elaine  breakfasted  together,  and  discussed,  long 
and  earnestly,  the  general  situation.  Mr.  Elaine's 
family  was  still  absent  in  New  England.  At  this 
interview,  Mr.  Garfield  with  all  the  fervor  and 
earnestness  peculiar  to  his  nature,  tendered  to 
the  great  Maine  commoner  the  leading  place  in 
his  cabinet.  Mr.  Elaine,  taken  by  surprise  at  this 
unexpected  offer,  asked  that  time  be  given  him  for 
consideration.  For  nearly  three  weeks  he  bal 
anced  the  subject  in  his  mind,  and  consulted  the 
few  friends  who  were  admitted  into  the  charmed 
circle  of  his  confidence ;  and  it  may  here  be 


SECRETARY   OF    STATE.  147 

recorded,  that,  almost  without  exception,  they 
urged  him  to  decline  the  portfolio  of  the  State 
Department,  and  remain  in  the  Senate.  The 
unusual  friendship  and  intimacy  which  had  existed 
for  well  nigh  twenty  years  between  Garfield  and 
Elaine,  their  cordial  confidence,  and  their  belief  in 
each  others  greatness  and  patriotism,  may  have 
had  its  influence — no  doubt  did  have  its  influence- 
— in  determining  Mr.  Elaine's  decision. 

The  Secretaryship  of  State  is  not  an  office  to 
be  lightly  refused,  especially  when  the  President 
of  the  nation  is  one  who  commands  the  respect 
and  confidence  of  the  whole  people,  as  Mr.  Gar- 
field  unquestionably  did.  It  should  not  be  forgot 
ten  that  the  office  has  been  filled  by  the  greatest 
statesmen  of  the  country.  Thomas  Jefferson  was 
the  first  appointment ;  following  him  was  Edmund 
Randolph,  also  of  Virginia  ;  then  came  Timothy 
Pickering,  of  Massachusetts ;  then  John  Marshall, 
of  Virginia  ;  then  James  Maclison,  of  Virginia  ; 
next,  another  honored  Virginian,  James  Monroe  ; 
then  John  Quincy  Adams,  and  Henry  Clay,  of 
Kentucky,  who,  like  Mr.  Elaine,  was  not  only  a 
member,  but  three  times  Speaker  of  the  House 
of  Representatives,  and  subsequently  a  Senator  ; 
then  Martin  Van  Buren ;  then  Edward  Livingston, 
Daniel  Webster,  John  C.  Calhoun,  James  Buch 
anan;  again  Daniel  Webster,  Edward  Everett, 
and  William  L.  Marcy,  of  New  York  ;  next  came 
Lewis  Cass,  of  Michigan ;  then  Jeremiah  S. 


148  LIFE     OF    JAMES    G.    ELAINE. 

Black,  William  H.  Seward,  and  those  of  later  date, 
whose  names  are  familiar  to  the  youngest  reader. 
Five  of  the  statesmen  here  mentioned  became 
the  Chief  Magistrates  of  the  nation.  Possibly 
the  contemplation  of  this  long  line  of  distin 
guished  occupants  of  the  office  may  have  had 
some  slight  influence  on  Mr.  Elaine's  decision. 
At  any  rate,  he  accepted  the  offer  with  the  same 
cordiality  with  which  it  had  been  made,  and  in 
due  time  he  wrote  to  President  Garfield  the  letter 
of  acceptance  as  follows  : 

"  WASHINGTON,  D.  C.,  Dec.  20,  1880. 
"  My  Dear  Garfield: 

"Your  generous  invitation  to  enter  your  cabinet  as 
Secretary  of  State  has  been  under  consideration  for  more 
than  three  weeks.  The  thought  had  really  never  occurred 
to  my  mind,  until  at  our  last  conference  you  presented  it 
with  such  cogent  arguments  in  its  favor,  and  with  such 
warmth  of  personal  friendship  in  aid  of  your  offer.  I 
know  that  an  early  answer  is  desirable,  and  I  have  waited 
only  long  enough  to  consider  the  subject  in  all  its  bear 
ings,  and  to  make  up  my  mind  definitely  and  conclu 
sively.  I  now  say  to  you,  in  the  same  cordial  spirit  in 
which  you  have  invited  me,  that  I  accept  the  position. 
It  is  no  affectation  for  me  to  add  that  I  make  this  decision, 
not  for  the  honor  of  promotion  it  gives  me  in  public,  but 
because  I  think  I  can  be  useful  to  the  country  and  to  the 
party ;  useful  to  you  as  the  responsible  leader  of  the 
party,  and  the  great  head  of  the  government.  I  am 
influenced,  somewhat,  perhaps,  by  the  shower  of  letters 
I  have  received,  urging  me  to  accept,  written  to  me  in 
consequence  of  the  mere  unauthorized  newspaper  report, 


SECRETARY    OF    STATE. 


149 


that  you  had  been  pleased  to  offer  me  the  place.  While 
I  have  received  these  letters  from  all  sections  of  the 
Union,  I  have  been  especially  pleased,  and  even  surprised, 
at  the  cordial  and  widely  extended  feeling  in  my  favor 
throughout  New  England,  where  I  had  expected  to 
encounter  local  jealousy,  and,  perhaps,  rival  aspirations. 
In  our  new  relation,  I  shall  give  all  that  I  am,  and  all 
that  I  can  hope  to  be,  freely  and  joyfully  to  your  service. 
You  need  no  pledges  of  my  loyalty  in  heart  and  act. 
I  should  be  false  to  myself  did  I  not  prove  true,  both  to 
the  great  trust  you  confide  to  me,  and  to  your  own  per 
sonal  and  political  fortunes  in  the  present  and  the  future. 
"  Your  administration  must  be  made  brilliantly  suc 
cessful,  and  strong  in  the  confidence  and  pride  of  the 
people,  not  at  all  directing  its  energies  for  re-election, 
and  yet  compelling  that  result  by  the  logic  of  events, 
and  by  the  imperious  necessities  of  the  situation  to  that 
most  desirable  consummation.  I  feel,  next  to  yourself,  I 
can  possibly  contribute  as  much  influence  as  any  other 
man.  I  say  this  not  from  egotism  or  vain  glory,  but 
merely  as  a  deduction  from  a  plain  analysis  of  the  politi 
cal  forces  which  have  been  at  work  in  the  country  for 
two  years  past,  and  which  have  been  significantly  shown 
in  two  great  conventions.  I  accept  it  as  one  of  the  hap 
piest  circumstances  connected  with  this  affair,  that  in 
allying  my  political  fortunes  with  yours,  or,  rather,  for 
the  time,  merging  mine  in  yours,  my  heart  goes  with  my 
head,  and  that  I  carry  to  you,  not  only  political  support, 
but  personal  and  devoted  friendship.  I  can  but  regard  it 
as  somewhat  remarkable,  that  two  men  of  the  same  age, 
entering  Congress  at  the  same  time,  influenced  by  the 
same  aims  and  cherishing  the  same  principles,  should 
never  for  a  single  moment,  in  our  eighteen  years  of  close 
intimacy,  have  had  a  word  or  coolness,  and  that  our 


I5O  LIFE    OF    JAMES    G.    ELAINE. 

friendship  has  steadily  grown  with  our  growth  and 
strengthened  with  our  strength.  It  is  this  fact  that  has 
lead  me  to  the  conclusion  embodied  in  this  letter,  for, 
however,  much,  my  dear  Garfield,  I  might  admire  you  as 
a  statesman,  I  would  not  enter  your  cabinet  if  I  did  not 
believe  in  you  as  a  man,  and  love  you  as  a  friend. 
"  Faithfully  yours, 

"JAMES  G.  ELAINE." 

The  terrible  tragedy  of  that  unhappy  second 
day  of  July,  1880,  which  is  mentioned  even  now 
with  a  shudder,  deprived  the  country  at  once  of  a 
great  President  and  a  great  Secretary,  who,  had  he 
remained  in  office,  would  undoubtedly  have  made 
for  himself  a  name,  second  to  none  of  those  illus 
trious  ones  recorded  above. 

There  was  a  confidence  between  Mr.  Garfield 
and  his  chief  cabinet  adviser,  such  as  rarely  exists 
in  official  relationship,  and  nothing  annoyed  the 
President  more  than  the  attempt  to  hold  Mr. 
Elaine  responsible  for  every  act  of  the  adminis 
tration.  Under  date  of  May  29,  1881,  in  a  letter 
to  a  personal  friend,  in  Mr.  Garfield's  own  hand 
writing,  a  letter  which  still  exists,  he  used  the  fol 
lowing  words  :  "The  attempt  to  shift  the  fight  to 
Mr.  Elaine's  shoulders  is  as  weak  as  it  is  unjust. 
The  fact  is,  no  member  of  the  cabinet  behaves 
with  any  more  respect  to  the  rights  of  his  brother 
members  than  Mr.  Elaine.  It  should  be  under 
stood  that  the  administration  is  not  meddling  with 
New  York  State  politics  ;  it  only  defends  itself 
when  assailed.'' 


SECRETARY   OF   STATE.  153 

One  of  the  best  corrections  of  the  false  ideas 
industriously  spread  of  Mr.  Elaine's  policy  while 
Secretary  of  State,  in  fact  the  very  best,  is  afforded 
by  a  close  study  of  his  own  words  and  acts,  as 
opposed  to  the  wild  misrepresentations  of  his 
traducers.  A  project  which,  when  it  came  from 
his  original,  inventive  mind,  attracted  most  hearty 
praise  from  all  lovers  of  America  and  of  peace, 
has  been  so  industriously  ridiculed  and  belittled 
since  that  time,  that  its  grand  scope  and  attrac 
tiveness  have  been  almost  entirely  obscured. 
This  was  the  so-called  Peace  Congress,  or  general 
convention  of  delegates  from  the  independent 
powers  on  the  Western  Continent,  proposed  to 
be  held  in  the  city  of  Washington,  on  the  24th 
day  of  November,  1882.  The  primary  object, 
like  that  of  the  Congresses  held  in  Europe,  was  to 
be  the  restoration  and  preservation  of  peace  (war 
was  then  raging  between  Chili  and  Peru)  among 
the  nations  of  America,  but  of  course  there  could 
be  no  doubt  that  the  meeting  face  to  face  of  the 
representatives  of  so  many  nations  and  climes, 
the  free  interchange  of  views,  the  expressions  of 
the  common  hopes  and  aspirations  of  the  New 
World,  would  tend  to  knit  closer  the  ties  uniting 
each  to  all,  and  to  spread  that  fruitful  conservator 
of  peace,  international  commerce.  How  little 
there  was  in  it  of  any  thoughts  of  conquest  or 
domination  by  the  United  States  is  witnessed  by 
the  form  of  the  letter  of  invitation,  which  would 


154  LIFE    OF    JAMES    G.    BLAINE. 

deserve  reproduction,  if  only  as  a  masterly  state 
paper.  The  folllowing  copy  was  sent  to  our  min 
ister  to  the  Argentine  Republic: 

"  DEPARTMENT  OF  STATE,  ) 

"WASHINGTON,  November  29,  iSSi.     j 

"  SIR  :  The  attitude  of  the  United  States  with  respect 
to  the  question  of  general  peace  on  the  American  conti 
nent  is  well  known  through  its  persistent  efforts  for  years 
past  to  avert  the  evils  of  warfare,  or,  these  efforts  failing, 
to  bring  positive  conflicts  to  an  end  through  pacific 
counsels  or  the  advocacy  of  impartial  arbitration. 

"  This  attitude  has  been  consistently  maintained,  and 
always  with  such  fairness,  as  to  leave  no  room  for  imput 
ing  to  our  government  any  motive,  except  the  humane 
and  disinterested  one  of  saving  the  kindred  states  of  the 
American  continent  from  the  burdens  of  war.  The  posi 
tion  of  the  United  States  as  the  leading  Power  of  the  New 
World,  might  well  give  to  its  Government  a  claim  to 
authoritative  utterance  for  the  purpose  of  quieting  discord 
among  its  neighbors,  with  all  of  whom  the  most  friendly 
relations  exist.  Nevertheless,  the  good  offices  of  this 
government  are  not,  and  have  not  i\t  any  time  been 
tendered  with  a  show  of  dictation  or  compulsion,  but 
only  as  exhibiting  the  solicitous  good-will  of  a 
common  friend. 

"  For  some  years  past  a  growing  disposition  has  been 
manifested  by  certain  States  of  Central  and  South  America 
to  refer  disputes  affecting  grave  questions  of  international 
relationship  and  boundaries  to  arbitration  rather  than  to 
the  sword.  It  has  been  on  several  such  occasions  a 
source  of  profound  satisfaction  to  the  Government  of  the 
United  States  to  see  that  this  country  is  in  a  large  meas 
ure  looked  to  by  all  the  American  Powers  as  their  friend 


SECRETARY   OF    STATE.  155 

and  mediator.  The  just  and  impartial  counsel  of  the 
President  in  such  cases  has  never  been  withheld,  and  his 
efforts  have  been  rewarded  by  the  prevention  of  sanguin 
ary  strife  or  angry  contention  between  peoples  whom  we 
regard  as  brethren. 

"  The  existence  of  this  growing  tendency  convinces  the 
President  that  the  time  is  ripe  for  a  proposal  that  shall 
enlist  the  good  will  and  active  co-operation  of  all  the 
States  of  the  Western  Hemisphere,  both  North  and 
South,  in  the  interest  of  humanity  and  for  the  common 
weal  of  Nations.  He  conceives  that  none  of  the  Govern 
ments  of  America  can  be  less  alive  than  our  own  to  the 
dangers  and  horrors  of  a  state  of  war,  and  especially 
of  war  between  kinsmen.  He  is  sure  that  none  of 
the  chiefs  of  Governments  on  the  continent  can  be  less 
sensitive  than  he  is  to  the  sacred  duty  of  making  every 
endeavor  to  do  away  with  the  chances  of  fratricidal  strife. 
And  he  looks  with  hopeful  confidence  to  such  active 
assistance  from  them  as  will  serve  to  show  the  broadness 
of  our  common  humanity,  and  the  strength  of  the  ties 
which  bind  us  all  together  as  a  great  and  harmonious 
system  of  American  commonwealths. 

"  Impressed  by  these  views,  the  President  extends  to  all 
the  independent  countries  of  North  and  South  America 
an  earnest  invitation  to  participate  in  a  general  Congress, 
to  be  held  in  the  city  of  Washington,  on  the  24th  day  of 
November,  1882,  for  the  purpose  of  considering  and  dis 
cussing  the  methods  of  preventing  war  between  the 
Nations  of  America.  He  desires  that,  the  attention  of  the 
Congress  shall  be  strictly  confined  to  this  one  great 
object ;  that  its  sole  aim  shall  be  to  seek  a  way  of  perma 
nently  averting  the  horrors  of  cruel  and  bloody  combat 
between  countries,  oftenest  of  one  blood  and  speech,  or 
the  even  worse  calamity  of  internal  commotion  and  civil 


156  LIFE   OF    JAMES    G.    BLAINE. 

strife  ;  that  it  shall  regard  the  burdensome  and  far-reach 
ing  consequences  of  such  struggles,  the  legacies  of 
exhausted  finances,  of  oppressive  debt,  of  onerous  taxa 
tion,  of  ruined  cities,  of  paralyzed  industries,  of  devastated 
fields,  of  ruthless  conscription,  of  the  slaughter  of  men, 
of  the  grief  of  the  widow  and  the  orphan,  of  embittered 
resentments  that  long  survive  those  who  provoked  them, 
and  heavily  afflict  the  innocent  generations  that  come 
after. 

"  The  President  is  especially  desirous  to  have  it  under 
stood  that,  in  putting  forth  this  invitation,  the  United 
States  does  not  assume  the  position  of  counselling,  or 
attempting,  through  the  voice  of  the  Congress,  to  counsel, 
any  determinate  solution  of  existing  questions  which 
may  now  divide  any  of  the  countries  of  America.  Such 
questions  cannot  properly  come  before  the  Congress. 
Its  mission  is  higher.  It  is  to  provide  for  the  interests  of 
all  in  the  future,  not  to  settle  the  individual  differences  of 
the  present.  For  this  reason  especially  the  President  has 
indicated  a  day  for  the  assembling  of  the  Congress  so  far 
in  the  future  as  to  have  good  ground  for  hope  that  by  the 
the  time  named  the  present  situation  on  the  South  Pacific 
Coast  will  be  happily  terminated,  and  that  those  engaged 
in  the  contest  may  take  peaceable  part  in  the  discussion 
and  solution  of  the  general  question  affecting  in  an  equal 
degree  the  well-being  of  all. 

"  It  seems  also  desirable  to  disclaim  in  advance  any  pur 
pose  on  the  part  of  the  United  States  to  prejudge  the 
issues  to  be  presented  to  the  Congress.  It  is  far  from 
the  intent  of  this  Government  to  appear  before  the  Con 
gress  as  in  any  sense  the  Protector  of  its  neighbors  or  the 
predestined  and  necessary  arbitrator  of  their  disputes. 
The  United  States  will  enter  into  the  deliberations  of  the 
Congress  on  the  same  footing  as  the  other  Powers  repre- 


SECRETARY    OF    STATE.  157 

sented,  and  with  the  loyal  determination  to  approach  any 
proposed  solution,  not  merely  in  its  own  interest,  or  with 
a  view  to  asserting  its  own  power,  but  as  a  single  mem 
ber  among  many  co-ordinate  and  co-equal  States.  So 
far  as  the  influence  of  this  Government  may  be  potential, 
it  will  be  exerted  in  the  direction  of  conciliating  whatever 
conflicting  interests  of  blood,  or  government  or  historical 
traditions  may  necessarily  come  together  in  response  to 
a  call  embracing  such  vast  and  diverse  elements. 

"  You  will  present  these  views  to  the  minister  of  Foreign 
Relations  of  the  Argentine  Republic,  enlarging,  if  need 
be,  in  such  terms  as  will  readily  occur  to  you,  upon  the 
great  mission  which  it  is  within  the  power  of  the  proposed 
Congress  to  accomplish  in  the  interest  of  humanity,  and 
upon  the  firm  purpose  of  the  United  States  to  maintain  a 
position  of  the  most  absolute  and  impartial  friendship 
toward  all.  You  will  thereupon,  in  the  name  of  the 
President  of  the  United  States,  tender. to  His  Excellency, 
the  President  of  the  Argentine  Republic,  a  formal  invita 
tion  to  send  two  commissioners  to  the  Congress,  provided 
with  such  powers  on  behalf  of  their  Government  as  will 
enable  them  to  consider  the  questions  brought  before 
that  body  within  the  limit  of  submission  contemplated  by 
this  invitation.  The  United  States,  as  well  as  the  other 
Powers,  will,  in  like  manner,  be  represented  by  two  com 
missioners,  so  that  equality  and  impartiality  will  be  amply 
secured  in  the  proceedings  of  the  Congress. 

"  In  delivering  this  invitation  through  the  minister  of 
Foreign  Affairs,  you  will  read  this  despatch  to  him  and 
leave  with  him  a  copy,  intimating  that  an  answer  is 
desired  by  this  Government  as  promptly  as  the  just  con 
sideration  of  so  important  a  proposition  will  permit. 

"  I  am,  etc.,  JAMES  G.  ELAINE." 


158  LIFE    OF   JAMES    G.    ELAINE. 

After  this,  the  reader  is  better  prepared  to 
judge  of  Mr.  Elaine's  "dangerous  diplomacy," 
and  the  extent  of  his  desire  for  a  foreign  war. 

The  invitation,  it  is  well  known,  was  canceled 
and  recalled  after  Mr.  Elaine  left  the  Cabinet,  and 
it  was  perhaps  as  well  that  the  plan  which  he  had 
conceived  should  be  left  unexecuted,  rather  than 
tried  abortively,  without  his  presence  and  coun 
sel  to  carry  it  to  the  full  success  for  which  he  had 
hoped. 

Mr.  Elaine's  term  as  Secretary  of  State  was 
brief  indeed,  but  more  crowded  with  events  and 
distractions  of  the  most  trying  nature  than  that  of 
any  of  his  predecessors  except,  perhaps,  Mr. 
Seward.  He  could  scarcely  have  been  censured 
if  the  terrible  event  of  which  he  was  an  eye 
witness,  and  the  distressing  summer  which 
followed,  had  paralyzed  his  energies  and  made 
his  public  record  blank.  Yet  it  might  almost  be 
said,  that  one  reading  only  the  public  record  of 
that  year  would  never  imagine  that  the  Secretary 
of  State  had  been  obliged  to  mourn  the  sufferings 
and  death  his  cherished  friend,  the  Chief  Magis 
trate,  and  turn  from  the  funeral  ceremonies  to 
assist  in  starting  a  new  and  untried  Administration 
upon  its  way. 

No  one  can  exaggerate  what  Mr.  Elaine  was  to 
President  Garfield,  and  to  the  country,  through 
the  "  terrible  months,"  July,  August  and  Septem 
ber,  1 88 1,  and  it  would  not  be  possible  to 


SECRETARY   OF    STATE.  159 

describe  it  fully.  He  stood  between  the  two  as 
the  balance-wheel,  if  not  the  source  of  power,  and 
saw  to  all  emergencies,  from  the  surroundings  of 
the  sick  room  to  the  meetings  of  the  Cabinet.  Few 
can  have  forgotten  how  he  scattered  the  fogs, 
raised  by  the  solemn  muddle  of  medical  terms 
-in  the  bulletins,  issued  by  the  physicians,  under  the 
direction  of  Dr.  Bliss,  and  how  he  bravely  pre 
pared  the  public  mind  for  the  worst,  in  his  despatch 
to  Minister  Lowell  in  London,  August  22d,  at  n 
P.  M.  That  despatch  contained  the  first  truth 
that  had  been  given  to  the  public  since  the  fatal 
shot  was  fired.  It  was  like  the  flying  open  of  a 
lantern  on  a  dark  and,  alas!  a  hopeless  night. 
With  his  nervous,  strenuous  way  of  stating  facts, 
the  Secretary  referred  briefly  to  the  liquid  food 
which  the  patient  had  been  able  to  take  that  day, 
and  continued:  "But  his  general  condition  is 
serious,  if  not  critical."  The  doctors  had  darkened 
counsel  with  words,  and  even  resorted  to  prevari 
cation, — of  course,  "  professionally."  Mr.  Blaine 
spoke  plain  English  about  what  he  thought  the 
world  ought  to  know.  "  He  is  very  weak,  exhausted 
and  emaciated,  not  weighing  over  125  or  130 
pounds.  His  weight  when  wounded  was  from 
205  to  210  pounds.  His  failure  to  regain  strength 
is  the  one  feature  which  gives  special  uneasiness 
and  apprehension."  After  this  presentation  of 
vital  facts,  no  person  of  sense  was  in  danger  of 
being  taken  by  surprise  when  the  worst  occurred, 


160  LIFE    OF   JAMES    G.    BLAINE. 

and  the  physicians'  bulletins  were  thereafter  dis 
credited  in  waiting  for  what  Mr.  Elaine  might  say. 

One  of  the  most  urgent  questions  which  Mr. 
Elaine  encountered,  in  our  foreign  relations,  was 
that  of  the  inter-oceanic  canals,  proposed  in 
Central  America.  On  the  24th  of  June  he  issued 
a  circular-letter  to  our  representatives  abroad, 
setting  forth  the  settled  objection  of  this  Govern 
ment  to  any  concerted  action  of  the  European 
powers,  for  the  purpose  of  guaranteeing  the 
neutrality  of  such  a  canal,  or  determining  the 
condition  of  its  use,  and  furthermore  calling 
attention  to  the  paramount  right  and  duty  in  this 
particular  imposed  on  the  United  States  by  its 
treaty  with  the  former  Republic  of  New  Granada, — 
now  Columbia, — signed  in  1846. 

The  tragedy  of  the  2d  of  July  postponed  further 
action,  but  on  the  iQth  of  November  Mr.  Elaine 
addressed  to  Mr.  Lowell  a  letter,  which  awakened 
wide  attention,  instructing  him  to  apply  to  the 
British  Government  for  its  consent  to  the  mutual 
abrogation  of  certain  clauses  in  the  Clayton 
Bulwer  treaty  of  April  19,  1850,  which  had  become 
harmful  and  inappropriate  in  the  time  since 
elapsed.  This  treaty,  as  Mr.  Elaine  showed,  vir 
tually  concedes  to  Great  Britain  the  control  of  any 
inter-oceanic  canal  that  may  be  constructed  in 
Nicaragua,  because,  when  it  prohibits  any  fortifi 
cations  commanding  the  canal,  or  the  use  of 
military  forces  by  land,  it  does  not  prohibit 


SECRETARY    OF    STATE.  l6l 

any  naval  force  (in  which  arm  Great  Britain 
possesses  such  preponderance),  from  coming  near 
enough  to  dominate  or  be  ready  to  seize  the 
canal.  He  then  pointed  out  that  merely  to  hold 
the  distant  dependency  of  India,  Great  Britain  had 
established  a  belt  of  posts  half  way  round  the 
globe, — Gibraltar,  Malta,  and  Cyprus,  in  the 
Mediterranean ;  Egypt,  Aden,  and  the  island  of 
Perim,  which  makes  the  Red  Sea  mare  clausum. 
"It  would,"  he  said,  "in  the  judgment  of  the 
President,  be  no  more  unreasonable  for  the 
United  States  to  demand  a  share  in  these  fortifi 
cations,  or  their  absolute  neutralization,  than  for 
England  to  make  the  same  demand  in  perpetuity 
from  the  United  States  with  respect  to  the  transit 
across  the  American  continent."  This  point  he 
illustrated,  with  great  force  and  cogency,  and  then 
went  on  to  speak  of  the  canal  under  way  at 
Panama,  under  French  auspices.  If  the  Clayton- 
Bulwer  treaty  applies  to  this,  he  said,  then  while 
Great  Britain  and  the  United  States  "each  remains 
bound  to  the  other  in  common  helplessness,  a 
third  power,  or  a  fourth,  or  a  combination  of 
many,  may  step  in  and  give  direction  to  the  pro 
ject  which  the  Bulwer-Clayton  treaty  assumed  to 
be  under  the  sole  control  of  the  two  English- 
speaking  nations. "  He  referred  to  the  fact,  that 
in  1850  help  was  expected  from  British  capital  in 
the  construction  of  a  Nicaragua  canal,  an  expecta 
tion  that  had  not  been  realized,  and  which  had 


1 62  LIFE    OF   JAMES    G.  ELAINE. 

now  lost  all  importance.  For  these,  and  the  other 
reasons  set  forth  in  the  letter,  Mr.  Elaine  sug 
gested  the  following  principal  changes  in  the 
treaty : 

"First.  Every  part  of  the  treaty  which  forbids 
the  United  States  fortifying  the  canal  and  holding 
the  political  control  of  it  in  conjunction  with  the 
country  in  which  it  is  located  to  be  cancelled. 

"  Second.  Every  part  of  the  treaty  in  which 
Great  Britain  and  the  United  States  agree  to 
make  no  acquisition  of  territory  in  Central 
America  to  remain  in  full  force.  *  *  *  The 
acquisition  of  military  and  naval  stations  neces 
sary  for  the  protection  of  the  canal,  and  volun 
tarily  ceded  to  the  United  States  by  the  Central 
American  States,  is  not  to  be  regarded  as  a  vio 
lation  of  the  provision  contained  in  the  foregoing. 

"  Third.  The  United  States  will  not  object  to 
maintaining  the  clause  looking  to  the  establish 
ment  of  a  free  port  at  each  end  of  whatever 
canal  may  be  constructed,  if  England  desires  it  to 
be  retained." 

The  fourth  and  fifth  suggestions  referring 
respectively  to  the  obsolete  clause  covering  the 
Panama  and  Tehuantepec  railway,  and  the  incom 
plete  clause  intended  to  govern  the  distance  from 
the  mouths  of  the  canal  where  captures  might  be 
made  in  time  of  war,  were  of  less  importance. 
Mr.  Elaine  concluded  with  an  earnest  expression 
of  the  respect  of  the  United  States  for  all  the 


SECRETARY   OF   STATE  163 

rights  of  even  its  smallest  neighbors  on  this  con 
tinent,  but  its  unalterable  objection  to  the  med 
dling  of  European  powers  in  the  isthmus  canal 
question.  "  It  is  the  fixed  purpose  of  the  United 
States  to  confine  it  strictly  and  solely  as  an 
American  question,  to  be  dealt  with  and  decided 
by  the  American  Government."  He  added,  that 
the  present  was  thought  as  an  opportunity  for  the 
readjustment  of  all  difficulties,  because  at  no  time, 
since  the  peace  of  1783,  had  the  relations  between 
the  two  Governments  been  so  cordial  and  friendly. 

About  a  week  later,  Lord  Granville's  deferred 
reply  to  the  circular-letter  of  June  came  to  hand. 
It  was  brief  and  non-committal,  but  as  Mr.  Elaine 
had  already  anticipated  it  asserted  "  that  the  posi 
tion  of  Great  Britain  and  the  United  States  with 
reference  to  the  canal,  irrespective  of  the  magni 
tude  of  the  commercial  relations  of  the  former 
power  with  countries  to  and  from  which,  if  com 
pleted,  it  will  form  the  highway,  is  determined  by 
the  engagements  entered  into  by  them  respect 
ively  in  the  convention,  which  was  signed  at  Wash 
ington  on  the  i  Qth  of  April,  1850,  commonly 
known  as  the  Clayton-Bulwer  Treaty,  and  Her 
Majesty's  Government  rely  with  confidence  upon 
the  observance  of  all  the  engagements  of  that 
treaty." 

This  gave  Mr.  Elaine  opportunity  for  a 
rejoinder  which  must  be  regarded  as  one  of  his 
ablest  compositions.  In  a  letter  to  Mr.  Lowell, 


164  LIFE    OF   JAMES    G.  ELAINE. 

covering  but  a  few  pages  of  the  diplomatic  reports, 
he  rapidly  piled  up,  in  convincing  array,  the  his 
torical  facts  which  showed  that  the  Clayton-Bul- 
wer  Treaty  could  by  no  possibility  be  regarded  as 
the  final  word  in  the  isthmus  canal  debate,  but 
that  it  had,  if  anything,  added  to  the  causes  of  dif 
ference  by  its  vagueness  of  expression*  and  the 
numerous  topics  which  it  introduced  only  to  leave 
them  at  loose  ends.  He  showed  that  in  a  short 
time  after  its  adoption,  the  British  Government 
itself  proposed  the  extreme  measure  of  referring 
the  doubtful  clauses  to  a  friendly  power  for  arbi 
tration.  Six  years  later  the  pretensions  of  the 
British  Government  over  parts  of  Nicaragua  and 
the  coast  islands,  led  to  the  attempt  to  reconcile 
the  differences  of  opinion  by  the  Clarendon- 
Dallas  Treaty  of  1856,  which  was  never  ratified. 
After  this,  President  Buchanan  and  Secretary 
Cass,  pressed  in  the  strongest  terms  for  the  abro 
gation  of  the  Clayton-Bulwer  Treaty,  and  were 
met  by  the  British  Goverment  with  the  renewed 
proposal  to  refer  it  to  arbitration.  To  this  the 
American  reply  was,  that  it  would  be  absurd  to 
refer  a  question  of  the  interpretation  of  the  Eng 
lish  language,  arising  between  two  powers  who 
possessed  it  in  common,  to  a  third  power,  having 
a  different  vernacular.  When  Lord  Malmesbury 
succeeded  Lord  Clarendon  in  the  foreign  office, 
he  frankly  confessed  to  Lord  Napier,  the  minister 
at  Washington,  that  the  treaty  had  been  "  a  source 


SECRETARY    OF    STATE.  165 

of  increasing  embarrassment  "  to  both  countries, 
but  by  this  time,  Sir  William  Ouseley  was  on  his 
way  to  Central  America  to  negotiate  treaties  with 
some  of  the  States  there,  and  as  the  Clayton-Bul- 
wer  compact  did,  after  all,  restrain  British  acquisi 
tiveness  to  a  certain  extent,  General  Cass  cau 
tiously  refrained  from  proposing  its  abrogation  at 
that  time.  This  kind  of  triple  deadlock,  therefore, 
resulted  in  nothing  but  increasing  the  chronic  dis 
content  of  both  nations  with  their  mutual  obliga 
tions.  "  It  will  be  seen,"  said  Mr.  Elaine,  in  clos 
ing  up,  "  that  from  the  time  of  its  conclusion  in 
1850  until  the  end  of  1858,  its  provisions  were 
thrice  made  the  basis  of  a  proposal  to  arbitrate 
as  to  their  meaning,  that  modification  and  abroga 
tion  have  been  alike  contingently  considered,  and 
that  its  vexations  and  imperfect  character  has 
been  repeatedly  recognized  on  both  sides.  The 
present  proposal  of  this  government  is  to  free  it 
from  those  embarrassing  features,  and  leave  it,  as 
its  framers  intended  it  should  be,  a  full  and  perfect 
settlement,  for  all  time,  of  all  possible  issues 
between  the  United  States  and  Great  Britain  with 
regard  to  Central  America." 

While  Mr.  Blaine  was  thus  vindicating  the 
hegemony,  as  Dr.  Liebir  called  it,  or  leadership 
of  the  United  States  among  the  States  of  North 
and  Central  America,  and  carrying  on  at  the 
same  time  an  earnest  correspondence  in  regard 
to  the  treaty  rights  of  American  fishermen  in 


1 66  LIFE   OF   JAMES    G.  BLAINE. 

Canadian  waters,  he  was  called  upon  to  face  a 
still  greater  responsibility  in  our  South  American 
relations.  The  fierce  war  between  Chili  and  the 
allied  powers  of  Peru  and  Bolivia,  which  he  more 
than  suspected  had  been  stirred  up  by  designing 
influences  emanating  from  Europe,  had  taken 
more  and  more  the  form  of  a  struggle  for  com 
mercial  supremacy,  in  which  Chili,  backed  by 
English,  and  possibly  by  German,  secret  aid,  had 
completely  overthrown  Peru,  and  by  keeping  that 
country  in  anarchy,  was  preparing  to  rob  her  of 
all  her  sources  of  wealth  and  leave  almost  an 
ungoverned  desert.  Equally  friendly  to  both 
republics,  the  United  States  could  not  but  view 
this  deplorable  condition  of  affairs  with  the  grav 
est  concern.  While  Peru  was  in  danger  of 
relapsirtg  almost  into  barbarism,  Chili  was  ambi 
tiously  seizing  more  territory  than  her  slender 
resources  could  really  assimilate,  all  progress  on 
the  Pacific  coast  of  South  America  was  likely  to 
be  retarded,  the  interests  of  the  United  States 
were  ignored,  and  no  class  was  gaining  but  selfish 
traders  and  speculators  from  the  Old  World. 
At  the  same  time  the  regard  which  the  Colossus 
of  the  North  was  bound  to  show  toward  the  inde 
pendence  and  free  action  of  the  weaker  republics 
made  the  task  of  negotiation  or  interference  a 
very  delicate  one. 

Mr.  Elaine  was  not  favored  in  his  work  by  the 
assistance   of    a   skilled   diplomatic   corps.     Mr. 


SECRETARY   OF   STATE.  1 67 

Hurlbut  had  been  sent  to  Peru  and  Mr.  Kilpat- 
rick  to  Chili,  rather  in  consideration  of  their 
services  as  generals  in  the  army  than  on  account 
of  fitness  for  diplomacy.  The  latter  was  in 
declining  health,  and  was  married  to  a  devoted 
Chilian  lady,  which  could  not  but  tend  to  distract 
his  sympathies  to  a  greater  or  less  extent.  Mr. 
Elaine  had  almost  as  much  trouble  in  controlling 
his  own  ministers  in  these  remote  regions,  treat 
ing  with  the  excited  belligerents,  and  his  confi 
dential  despatches  were  often  in  terms  of  sharp 
reproof.  Finally  he  adopted  the  course  of  send 
ing  Mr.  William  Henry  Trescott,  a  gentleman  of 
most  thorough  experience  in  Spanish-American 
affairs,  accompanied  by  Mr.  Walker  Elaine,  the 
Third  Assistant  Secretary  of  State,  and  a  gentle 
man  of  rare  learning  and  sagacity,  as  a  special 
mission  to  offer  the  friendly  services  of  the 
United  States  in  negotiating  a  humane  and 
beneficial  peace.  These  envoys  persevered  jn 
their  work  under  almost  unparalleled  difficulties 
until  it  was  frustrated,  like  the  Peace  Congress 
and  other  salutary  plans,  by  the  change  in  the 
headship  of  the  State  Department  at  home. 

Still  another  disturbing  element  was  added  by 
the  desperate  efforts  of  certain  American  and 
other  speculators  to  force  the  recognition  of  the 
enormous  demands  upon  Peru,  known  as  the 
Cochet  and  Landreau  claims,  for  the  discovery  of 
the  commercial  value  of  the  guano  and  nitrate 


1 68  LIFE   OF   JAMES    G.  BLAINE. 

deposits  in  that  country,  extending  in  amount  to 
hundreds  of  millions  of  dollars.  Mr.  Elaine,  like 
Mr.  Evarts  before  him,  gave  these  claims  simply 
the  formal  consideration  to  which  they  were  enti 
tled,  and  directed  them  to  be  examined  by  the 
proper  officers,  but  their  attorney,  a  Mr.  Shipherd, 
seized  upon  this  as  a  full  endorsement  of  their 
validity,  and  commenced  an  extraordinary  and 
voluminous  correspondence  with  the  Department 
of  State,  and  still  more  improperly  with  Minister 
Hurlbut,  in  which  he  assumed  that  the  United 
States  government  and  its  officers  were  in  partner 
ship  with  him  in  a  tremendous  speculation,  and 
that  all  were  to  profit  by  it  financially.  Mr.  Elaine 
telegraphed  peremptorily  to  Mr.  Hurlbut  to  give 
no  countenance  to  the  scheme,  and  the  latter  for 
warded  to  the  Department  all  the  letters  with 
which  he  had  been  bombarded.  Upon  examining 
them,  Mr.  Elaine  wrote  to  the  visionary  lawyer  in 
New  York  in  very  unmistakeable  language, 
informing  him  that  he  was  disbarred  from  practice 
before  the  State  Department,  and  that  the  only 
reason  he  was  not  prosecuted  for  attempted 
bribery  was  the  probability  that  he  was  not  fully 
accountable  for  his  language  and  actions. 

Shipherd,  in  his  rage,  flew  to  Congress  for  that 
ready  means  of  revenge  an  "investigation,"  and 
after  accusing  Mr.  Elaine  of  "neglecting  American 
interests  abroad  "  changed  the  charge  to  one  of 
the  same  offense  which  he  had  attempted  to  com- 


SECRETARY    OF    STATE.  169 

mit — official  corruption.  A  young  Democratic 
member  from  New  York,  saw  a  chance  to  achieve 
notoriety,  at  least,  by  assailing  Mr.  Elaine,  so  that 
for  a  fourth  or  fifth  time  the  latter  encountered 
his  old  friend,  a  bitterly  partisan  "smelling  com 
mittee,"  as  they  are  expressively  called.  His  two 
chief  witnesses  were  dead,  Mr.  Kilpatrick  and 
Mr.  Hurlbut.  The  archives  of  the  State  Depart 
ment,  with  a  mass  of  obscure  and  unexplained 
papers,  were  flung  open  against  him  with  a 
surprising  disregard  of  the  most  ordinary  dip 
lomatic  reserve,  and  he  was  only  a  private  citizen 
contending  against  those  in  power  ;  but  again  his 
vindication  was  triumphant  and  complete.  The 
committee  dropped  its  futile  labors  in  disgust. 
Yet  to  this  day  the  lies  are  industriously  repeated 
that  Mr.  Elaine,  as  Secretary  of  State,  "  adopted  a 
blustering  tone  toward  England;"  "tried  to 
involve  the  country  in  war,"  and  "pressed  a 
guano  claim  against  Peru,"  when  a  mere  reading 
of  the  published  documents  of  his  term  would 
show  the  exact  contrary  in  every  particular.  If 
necessary,  reference  might  be  made  in  this  con 
nection  to  the  repeated  instances  in  his  official 
letters  where  he  calls  attention  to  the  undefended 
and  unwarlike  posture  of  this  country,  and 
its  aversion  to  war.  Thus  in  his  circular  of 
June  24,  1 88 1,  he  says  to  all  our  representatives 
abroad : 

"The  policy  of  the  United  States  is  one  of  peace 


I7O  LIFE    OF   JAMES    G.  I1LAINK. 

and  friendly  intercourse  with  every   government 
and  people.     This  disposition  is  frankly  avowed, 
and   is,  moreover,  abundantly  shown  in  the   fact 
that  our  armaments  by  land  and   sea  are  kept 
within  such  limits  as  to  afford  no  ground  for  dis 
trust  or  suspicion  of  menace   to   other  nations. 
The  guarantee  entered  into  by  this  government 
in  1846  was  manifestly  in  the'  interest  of  peace, 
and  the  necessity  imposed  by  circumstances  upon 
the   United  States  of  America  to  watch  over  a 
highway  between   its   two  coasts  was  so  impera 
tive  that  the  resultant  guarantee  was  the  simplest 
justice   to   the  chief  interests    concerned.      Any 
attempt  to  supersede  that  guarantee  by  an  agree 
ment  bet\veen  European  powers,  which  maintain 
vast  armies,   and  patrol  the    sea    with  immense 
fleets,  and  whose   interest  in   the   canal   and   its 
operation  can  never  be  so  vital  and  supreme  as 
ours,  would  partake  of  the  nature  of  an  alliance 
against  the  United  States,  and  would  be  regarded 
by  this  government  as  an  indication  of  unfriendly 
feeling.     It  would  be  but  an  inadequate  response 
to  the  good  will  we  bear  them,  and  to  our  cheerful 
and    constant    recognition    of   their    own    rights 
of    domestic    policy,    as  well   as   those   resulting 
from    proximity   or    springing    from    neighborly 
interest." 

And,  in  the  ensuing  letter,  although  he  says : 
"The  military  power  of  the  United  States,  as 
shown  by  the  recent  civil  war,  is  without  limit, 


SECRETARY    OF    STATE.  I  71 

and,  in  any  conflict  on  the  American  continent, 
altogether  irresistible,"  he  is  quick  to  add  that 
the  Clayton-Bulwer  treaty,  by  excluding  land 
forces,  surrenders  the  inter-oceanic  canal  "to  the 
guardianship  and  control  of  the  British  navy." 

Notwithstanding  his  remarkable  command  -of 
legal  questions,  which  enabled  him  so  efficiently 
to  fill  the  highest  place  in  the  national  cabinet, 
yet  Mr.  Elaine  is  not  a  lawyer.  Plain  people  who 
remember  the  superabundance  of  lawyers  in 
public  life  will  not  be  apt  to  regret  this  fact. 
He  studied  for  the  profession  two  years,  but  did 
not  enter  upon  its  practice.  This  was  never  made 
a  reproach  to  him  until  he  entered  the  Senate  and 
encountered  the  many  legal  luminaries  there. 
They  seemed  to  think  that  he  was  ipso  facto,  as 
they  would  say,  disbarred  from  discussing  any 
legal  point  with  them,  and  tried  to  dismiss  his 
arguments  with  the  sneer  "if  the  Senator  were  a 
lawyer — but  he  is  not,"  and  so  on.  They  soon 
found  that  the  ex-journalist  and  schoolmaster  had 
a  firm  hold  on  the  very  essence  of  the  law,  sound 
common  sense,  and  this,  with  his  accurate  knowl 
edge  of  facts  often  made  havoc  of  their  easy  con 
fidence  in  their  professional  acquirements.  Finally, 
in  the  great  debate  on  the  distribution  of  the 
Geneva  award,  Mr.  Elaine  encountered  the  late 
Matthew  Hale  Carpenter,  and  the  other  giants  of 
legal  lore  in  the  Senate,  and  fairly  vanquished 
them  all  in  a  stand-up  fight  upon  their  own  ground 


172  LIFE    OF   JAMES    G.  ELAINE. 

and  with  their  own  weapons.  After  this  there 
was  no  attempt  to  designate  him  as  a  layman  or 
an  ignoramus  and  he  was  heard  as  respectfully 
and  attentively  as  any  lawyer  among  them. 

Mr.  Elaine  could  have  become  a  notable  jurist 
and  advocate,  and  from  his  quick,  impartial  rulings 
as  Speaker  it  is  easy  to  see  that  he  would  have 
been  eminent  as  a  judge  if  his  tastes  had  led  him 
in  that  direction.  All  his  powers  found  full  scope, 
however,  in  the  various  spheres  to  which  he  was 
called,  and  in  none  more  so  than  when  Secretary 
of  State  under  the  trying  ordeals  through  which 
he  then  passed.  As  Chief  Magistrate  of  the 
nation,  he  would  be  altogether  at  home. 


CHAPTER  XL 

MR.  ELAINE'S  HOMES. 

THERE  is  a  natural  curiosity  to  know  about  the 
houses  and  homes  of  eminent  men,  for  the  home 
is  generally  the  outgrowth  of  the  tastes,  character 
and  disposition  of  the  individual,  and  speaks 
of  him  almost  as  unmistakably  as  the  sea- 
shell  speaks  of  the  creature  around  which  it 
grew. 

In  the  city  of  Washington  during  over  twenty 
years'  service  there,  Mr.  Elaine  has  most  of  the 
time  lived  in  the  manner  sanctioned  by  the 
example  of  St.  Paul,  in  Rome  ;  but  about  five 
years  ago,  feeling  able  to  indulge  his  tastes  in  that 
direction,  he  determined  upon  the  erection  of  a 
dwelling  which  should  suit  his  own  ideas.  With 
his  usual  prudence  he  chose  a  lot  on  the  extreme 
verge  of  the  West  End,  which  did  credit  to  his 
judgment  as  an  investor.  It  was  the  former  site 
of  a  brickyard,  and  forlorn-looking  to  the  last 
degree,  but  Mr.  Elaine  saw  that  it  was  on  high 
ground,  that  it  commanded  a  fine  prospect  in 
every  direction,  that  it  fronted  on  what  is  now 
called  Dupont  Circle,  which  will  soon  be  one  of 
the  finest  parks  in  the  city,  and  that  it  had  a  small 
ii  173 


174  LIFE    OF    JAMES    G.    ELAINE. 

reservation  in  front  giving  somewhat  the  effect  of 
large  private  grounds.  The  fashionable  quarter 
was  also  extending  in  that  direction,  a  process 
likely  to  be  hastened  by  the  removal  thither  of  one 
in  Mr.  Elaine's  station. 

The  converging  of  P  street  and  Massachusetts 
avenue  toward  the  Circle,  made  the  lot  a  truncated 
angle,  and  on  this  the  house  is  erected,  open  to 
the  sun  and  air  on  all  sides.  It  is  familiar  to  those 
who  have  visited  Washington,  being  pointed  out 
as  one  of  the  prominent  landmarks,  not  on  account 
of  its  intrinsic  costliness,  in  which  it  is  surpassed 
by  others  in  the  neighborhood,  but  on  account  of 
its  well-chosen  site,  the  good  taste  displayed  and, 
in  short,  because  it  is  Mr.  Elaine's. 

The  materials  are  modest  brick  and  brown 
stone,  combined  so  as  to  produce  a  rich  and 
harmonious  effect.  Having  a  large  family  and  a 
dislike  for  anything  like  crowding,  Mr.  Elaine 
made  it  probably  the  most  spacious  private  resi 
dence  in  the  District,  unless  the  legation  building 
supplied  by  the  British  Government  to  its  repre 
sentative  can  be  included  under  that  head.  It 
also  appears  that  he  likes  plenty  of  light,  for  the 
number  of  wide  window  openings,  filled  only  with 
broad  sheets  of  plate  glass,  sixty-four  in  all, 
it  is  stated,  attracted  some  wonderment  at  the 
time.  , 

On  the  eastern,  or  Twentieth  street  front,  is  the 
main  entrance,  up  a  double  flight  of  stone  steps 


HON.  JAMES  G.  ELAINE'S  RESIDENCE,  WASHINGTON,  D.  C. 


MR.  ELAINE'S  HOMES.  177 

with  polished  brass  railings.  On  the  North  side 
is  an  ample  porte  cocker  e.  above  which  is  a  large 
stained  glass  window,  lighting  the  staircase 
within.  On  the  west  front  is  a  wide  piazza, 
commanding  the  gorgeous  sunsets  known  to  this 
latitude. 

The  main  hall  might  be  called  baronial  in  its 
dimensions.  It  has  panelings  and  ceilings  of  oak, 
the  latter  supported  on  polished  oak  columns  with 
richly-carved  capitals.  The  stairs  are  massively 
built  in  oak,  decorated  with  carvings,  and  the 
whole  is  set  off  by  the  great  fire-place  which  fronts 
the  visitor  as  he  enters,  and  gives  a  home-like 
glow  to  the  scene. 

To  the  right  is  a  small  reception-room,  and  to  the 
left  the  large  parlors  and  drawing-room.  In  the  rear 
is  the  library,  opening  on  the  piazza  before  men 
tioned.  It  is  finished  in  mahogany,  and  the 
shelves  are  filled  with  books  in  handsome  bind 
ings,  the  treasured  companions  of  Mr.  Elaine's 
leisure  and  the  instruments  of  his  studies  and  lit 
erary  toil. 

On  the  other  side  of  the  hall  is  the  dining- 
room,  also  finished  in  mahogany.  All  these 
apartments  are  appropriately  but  not  extrava 
gantly  furnished,  in -a  manner  bespeaking  rather 
quiet  good  taste  than  love  of  display. 

To  this  house  Mr.  Elaine  removed  with  his 
family  from  his  Fifteenth-street  house,  near 
McPherson  square,  which  he  had  occupied  during 


178  LIFE     OF    JAMES    G.    ELAINE. 

the  Speakership.  It  did  not  give  him  the  satisfac 
tion  he  had  expected.  His  retirement  from  pub 
lic  life  after  the  death  of  Garfield,  and  his  absorp 
tion  in  the  researches  necessary  for  writing 
" Twenty  Years  of  Congress,"  made  the  big  house 
an  unnecessary  care  and  burden.  The  only  fes 
tivity  which  took  place  in  it  during  his  occupancy 
was  the  marriage  of  his  eldest  daughter  to  Major 
Coppinger  of  the  regular  Army,  an  event  which 
still  further  diminished  his  household,  one  son 
being  engaged  in  business  in  the  West,  while  two 
children  were  at  school. 

All  things  considered,  Mr.  Elaine  gave  up  with 
out  much  regret  his  "  house  beautiful,"  which 
required  a  large  staff  of  servants  and  constant 
supervision,  and  returned  to  the  condition  of  tenant 
in  a  brown-stone  front  on  Lafayette  square,  a 
quiet,  but  aristocratic  nook,  just  south  of  the 
Decatur  mansion,  and  within  a  stone's  throw  of 
Mr.  Corcoran's,  the  venerable  George  Bancroft's, 
the  White  House,  and  other  notable  structures. 

His  practical  wisdom  was  shown  in  the  ease 
with  which  he  secured  for  the  house  he  had  built 
a  very  remunerative  rental  from  a  Chicago  mil 
lionaire,  with  ample  means  and  inclination  for  the 
social  entertaining  to  which  it  is  so  well  adapted. 

Yet  it  is  not  in  any  of  the  four  or  five  houses 
he  has  occupied  in  Washington,  that  Mr.  Elaine 
has  ever  felt  so  truly  at  home  as  in  the  big,  ramb 
ling,  yet  not  unsightly  structure  at  Augusta, 


i  m 


MR.  ELAINE'S  HOMES.  181 

Maine,  which  has  been  his  for  about  thirty  years, 
and  which  he  has  improved,  modified  and  added 
to  just  as  his  circumstances  permitted  or  required. 
It  stands  almost  alone  in  one  of  the  large  city 
blocks  of  Augusta,  across  the  street  from  the  old 
State  House,  with  a  wide  lawn  at  the  side,  shaded 
by  noble  old  trees,  and  surrounded  by  the  flower 
and  vegetable  gardens,  stables  and  outhouses. 

The  original  house  is  plain  and  square  in  the 
New  England  style,  divided  by  the  hallway  in  the 
middle.  Back  of  this  on  one  side  is  an  addition 
containing  Mr.  Elaine's  office,  which  can  be  seen 
at  a  glance  on  entering,  to  be  a  work-room,  so 
full  is  it  of  books,  documents,  and  conveniences 
for  rapid  writing  and  easy  reference.  Among  the 
ornaments  is  the  ivory  gavel  which  he  wielded  so 
admirably  for  six  years  as  Speaker,  now  swung 
on  silken  ribbons  in  honorable  repose.  A  bust 
of  Abraham  Lincoln  surmounts  one  of  the  book 
cases,  and  busts  and  portraits  of  other  noted 
friends  are  placed  about.  In  the  other  direction, 
another  annex,  almost  if  not  quite  as  large  as  the 
original  structure,  has  grown  up ;  another  air  of  the 
whole  is  that  of  ample  space  as  well  as  cosiness. 
So  indeed  it  proves,  for  the  house  is  comfortable 
both  winter  and  summer,,  and  furnished  with  every 
device  which  ingenuity  can  suggest.  His  towns 
people  are  always  glad  to  have  their  distinguished 
citizen  among  them,  and  he  is  always  glad  to  be 
there. 


CHAPTER  XII. 

SEEN  BY  ENGLISH    EYES. 

In  the  London  World  of  July  i3th,  1881,  Mr. 
Elaine  is  described  by  an  English  journalist.  The 
article  is  one  of  a  series  on  "  Celebrities  at 
Home."  It  describes  the  home  Mr.  Elaine  then 
occupied,  and  gives  the  features  of  an  interview 
with  him  there,  he  then  being  Secretary  of  State. 
The  article,  omitting  certain  portions  merely  bio 
graphical,  is  here  given  : 

"  In  one  of  a  group  of  four  tall  houses,  built  of 
brown  stone  and  red  brick,  situated  in  Fifteenth 
Street,  Washington,  and  bearing  the  number  821, 
dwells  the  American  Secretary  of  State.  With 
the  assurance  of  meeting  with  the  kindest  wel 
come  from  a  statesman  universally  known  for  his 
hospitality  and  his  amiability,  and  of  being  enter 
tained  with  his  charming  conversation  for  a  few 
minutes,  if  the  pressing,  morning  duties  of  the 
Premier  will  at  all  permit  it,  we  stroll  along  the 
quiet  street,  and,  arriving  at  the  neat  doorstep, 
pull  the  bell  at  Mr,  Elaine's.  Our  cards  are  taken 
by  a  young  negress,  who,  in  English  undefiled  by 
182 


SEEN    BY    ENGLISH    EYES.  183 

the  slave's  jargon  of  the  Southern  plantation, 
makes  the  usual  cautious  remark  that  she  does 
not  know  if  Mr.  Elaine  is  at  home.  Four  large 
rooms  constitute  the  drawing-room  suite,  the 
ground  floor,  at  Mr.  Elaine's.  A  bow-window  on 
the  street  adds  to  the  size  of  the  rooms,  and 
affords  further  scope  for  the  loving  ornamenta 
tion  with  which  each  of  these  apartments  is 
endowed.  There  are  many  valuable  objects  here ; 
much  rare  china  on  the  walls  and  in  cabinets  ;  fine 
pictures ;  some  good  statuary ;  but  the  greatest 
charm  of  the  place  is  its  home-like  spirit,  which 
enters  the  heart  of  the  visitor,  and  tells  him  that 
the  Premier  and  his  family  specially  inhabit  these 
rooms,  and  keep  no  corner  of  their  house  sacred 
to  the  cold  perfunctory  ceremony  of  merely  receiv 
ing  visitors. 

"  Mr.  Secretary  Elaine's  house  is  incontestably 
the  most  popular  in  Washington.  On  Wednes 
day  afternoons — the  days  in  Washington  when, 
during  the  Session  of  Congress,  the  wives  of 
Cabinet  Ministers  and  those  of  foreign  Ambassa 
dors  receive — there  is  no  house. in  the  American 
capital  so  crowded.  Whatever  the  weather,  how 
ever  thin  the  attendance  in  other  drawing  rooms, 
there  is  always  a  throng  at  Mr.  Elaine's.  Nor  is 
this  due  to  the  importance  of  his  present  position 
as  Secretary  of  State.  It  was  the  same  when  he 
was  in  Congress,  whether  as  a  member  or  Speaker 
of  the  House  ;  it  was  the  same  when  he  was  in 


184  LIFE    OF    JAMES    G.    ELAINE. 

the  Senate  ;  it  would   be   the   same  if  Mr.  Elaine 
were  not  in  politics. 

4<  People  go  there  because  they  like  Mr.  Elaine 
and  all  his  family,  which  consists  of  his  intellectual 
and  ladylike  wife — a  kinswoman  of  brilliant  repu 
tation  in  American  letters,  who  uses  the  nom  de 
plume  of  '  Gail  Hamilton  ; '  and  six  fine  and 
promising  children.  Never  since  the  days  of  the 
silver-voiced  Henry  Clay,  of  Kentucky,  has  there 
been  a  man  in  the  United  States  whose  personal 
magnetism  has  been  acknowledged  to  be  so  potent 
as  that  of  Mr.  Elaine.  The  power  which  Mr. 
Elaine  exercises  over  men,  the  unfailing  success 
he  enjoys  in  winning  their  affection,  has  been  var 
iously  attributed  to  his  epigrammatic  speech,  his 
delightful  jocularity,  to  his  earnest  face  and  his 
splendid  physique.  But  there  is  a  more  simple 
explanation.. . 

'Mr.  Elaine's  universal  popularity  is  directly 
derived  from  the  sweet  and  unaffected  nature  of 
the  man,  and  from  the  unchanging  goodness  of 
his  big  warm  heart.  To  be  a  great  statesman,  and 
yet  a  kind,  generous,  and  sympathizing  friend  to 
uncountable  scores  of  little  people  whose  acquaint 
ance  he  has  made  during  the  last  twenty  or  thirty 
years  of  his  life  ;  to  maintain  a  demeanor  of  per 
fect  dignity  at  all  times,  and  yet  to  know  how  to 
unbend  to  each  visitor  in  just  the  degree  neces 
sary  to  make  the  latter  feel  that  of  all  '  good  fel 
lows  '  in  the  world,  '  Elaine  of  Maine '  is  the 


SEEN    BY    ENGLISH    EYES.  185 

best,  demands  intellectual  talents  and  moral  quali 
ties  of  the  highest  order.  These  talents  and  these 
qualities  are  well  known  to  be  the  attributes  of 
Mr.  Elaine  ;  and  they  are  not  denied  him  even  by 
those  whose  interests  in  the  political  arena  are 
arrayed  against  his  own. 

"In  the  examination  of  the  drawing-rooms  at 
Mr.  Elaine's  we  find,  among  other  valuable  pos 
sessions,  one  very  interesting  picture — a  large 
canvas  by  Sir  Peter  Lely,  representing  Charles 
II.  and  his  Court.  It  is  signed,  with  the  date  1658. 
It  was  painted  by  Sir  Peter  for  Lord  Baltimore, 
and  was  bought  by  Mr.  Elaine  for  a  sum  of  com 
parative  unimportance  at  the  sale  of  the  Calvert 
estate,  Riverdale,  Maryland,  a  few  years  ago. 
There  is  not  an  art-gallery  in  Europe,  public  or 
private,  which  would  not  be  enriched  by  this  large 
historical  picture,  full  of  portraits,  and  executed 
in  Lely's  most  delicate  and  yet  most  animated 
style. 

"  Near  at  hand,  on  a  rich  pedestal,  stands  a  fine 
life-size  bust  of  Mr.  Elaine,  as  good  a  likeness  of 
the  statesman  as  could  perhaps  be  obtained  in  his 
form  of  a  man,  the  charm  of  whose  features  lies 
principally  in  their  nobility  and  ever-changing  play. 
Portraits  of  men  of  letters  abound  here.  Dickens, 
Thackeray,  Disraeli,  Washington  Irving,  Haw 
thorne,  and  many  others  gaze  down  from  the  walls, 
principally  in  the  last  of  the  suite  of  drawing- 
rooms — the  one  in  which  the  Premier  sits  of  a 


1 86  LIFE    OF    JAMES    G.  ELAINE. 

morning  before  going  to  the  Department  of  State, 
examining  such  letters  as  imperatively  demand  his 
attention  at  home.  Routine  correspondence  is 
carried  on  by  secretaries  in  a  vast  room  at  the  top 
of  the  house,  and  is  an  enormous  task. 

"Listen  !  A  deep  mellow  voice  is  warmly  cry 
ing  out,  '  Now,  is  there  anything  more  annoying 
than  to  be  kept  waiting  ? '  To  which  we  reply, 
with  truth,  '  It  is  not  annoying  with  the  prospect 
in  view  of  seeing  you/  Elaine  of  Maine  acknowl 
edges  the  compliment  by  a  hearty  grasp  from  both 
his  extended  hands.  It  is  impossible  to  exagger 
ate  the  charm  of  his  manner,  because  with  his  own 
great  brilliancy  he  has  a  sort  of  delightful  and 
modest  deference  to  the  opinion  of  his  listener,  as 
though  to  say,  'Am  I  right?  Does  your  judg 
ment  approve  of  this  ? '  which,  it  is  needles  to 
say,  is  most  'taking'  with  every  auditor.  And 
there  is  nothing  false  here.  It  is  the  natural 
idiosyncrasy  of  a  frank  and  impulsive  man,  with 
a  very  warm  heart,  kindly  instincts,  and  generous 
nature.  In  stature  Mr.  Elaine  is  above  the 
medium  height,  and  is  of  strong  and  compactly- 
built  frame.  His  head  is  large,  his  hair  gray  and 
abundant ;  his  face  is  engaging  in  expression, 
large  in  feature,  and  lighted  by  a  pair  of  brilliant 
dark-brown  .eyes.  His  movements  are  alertt  and 
vigorous,  save  when  he  is  in  the  inquistorial  tor 
tures  of  an  inherited  enemy — the  gout.  '  I  suffer 
vicariously  from  the  gout,'  he  explains,  with  a 


SEEN    BY    ENGLISH    EYES.  187 

rueful  grimace.  '  I  never  earned  the  gout.  I 
never  drank  a  glass  of  spirits  in  my  life.  Yet  I 
must  endure  the  agonies  of  the  gout,  because  my 
jolly  old  British  ancestors  denied  themselves  noth 
ing.'  These  ancestors  were  of  that  excellent 
mingling  known  as  the  Scotch-Irish." 

This  picture,  added  to  that  describing  his  new 
house  in  Washington  and  his  old  home  in  Augusta, 
will  show  the  surroundings  amid  which  Mr.  Elaine 
dwells. 


CHAPTER  XIII. 

KEENNESS  OF  PERCEPTION. 

To  a  degree  seldom  equalled,  Mr.  Elaine  pos 
sesses  the  ability  to  look  into  the  most  obscure 
subjects  and  to  penetrate  the  most  effective  dis 
guises,  so  as  to  see  clearly  all'that  lies  beneath. 
Rare  indeed  would  be  the  measure  or  the  man 
which  could  contain  or  favor  a  latent  fraud  and 
yet  escape  his  searching  scrutiny  and  his  unspar 
ing  exposures.  This  capacity  is  not  that  micro 
scopic  ability  which  even  small  men  possess  in 
some  instances,  enabling  them  to  discover  every 
mote  in  a  brother's  eye  and  every  unsavory  fly  in 
the  pot  of  fragrant  ointment.  It  is  telescopic 
rather ;  looking  beyond  the  conspicuous  planets 
and  stars,  and  resolving  into  absolute  distinctness 
the  cloudlike,  mysterious  whiteness  of  the  celestial 
nebulae. 

In  April,  1879,  the  Democratic  members  pushed 
forward  what  seemed  to  be  an  unimportant  and 
unobjectionable  proposal  to  strike  eight  words 
from  an  existing  section  of  the  laws  regulating 
the  army  of  the  United  States.  But  behind  this 
unpretentious  proposal,  there  was  a  world  of 
import  unseen  by  most  men.  To  uncover  this, 

1 88 


KEENNESS    OF    PERCEPTION.  189 

Mr.  Elaine  addressed  the  Senate.  He  said  :  "  Mr. 
PRESIDENT  :  The  existing  section  of  the  Revised 
Statutes  numbered  2002  reads  thus  : 

" '  No  military  or  naval'  officer,  or  other  persons  engaged 
in  the  civil,  military,  or  naval  service  of  the  United  States, 
shall  order,  bring,  keep  or  have  under  his  authority  or 
control,  any  troops  or  armed  men  at  the  place  where  any 
general  or  special  election  is  held  in  any  State,  unless  it 
be  necessary  to  repel  the  armed  enemies  of  the  United 
States,  or  to  keep  the  peace  at  the  polls.' 

"  The  object  of  the  proposed  section,  which  has 
just  been  read  at  the  Clerk's  desk,  is  to  get  rid  of 
the  eight  closing  words,  namely,  "or  to  keep  the 
peace  at  the  polls,"    and  therefore  the  mode  of 
legislation  proposed  in  the  Army  bill  now  before  the 
Senate  is  an  unusual  mode ;  it  is  an  extraordinary 
mode.     If  you  want  to  take  off  a  single  sentence 
at  the  end  of  a  section  in  the  Revised  Statutes, 
the  ordinary  way  is  to  strike  off  those  words,  but 
the  mode  chosen   in  this   bill    is    to  repeat   and 
re-enact  the  whole  section  leaving  those  few  words 
out.     While  I  do  not  wish  to  be  needlessly  suspi 
cious  on  a  small  point,  I  am  quite  persuaded  that 
this  did  not  happen  by  accident,  but  that  it  came 
by  design.     If  I  may  so  speak,  it  came  of  cunning, 
the   intent   being   tc  create   the   impression  that 
whereas  the  Republicans  in  the  administration  of 
the  General  Government  had  been  using  troops, 
right  and  left,  hither  and  thither,  in  every  direc 
tion,  as  soon  as  the  Democrats  got  power  they 


LIFE    OF    JAMES    G.  ELAINE. 

enacted  this  section.  I  can  imagine  Democratic 
candidates  for  Congress,  all  over  the  country, 
reading  this  section  to  gaping  and  listening  audi 
ences  as  one  of  the  first  offsprings  of  Democratic 
reform,  whereas  every  word  of  it,  every  syllable 
of  it,  from  its  first  to  its  last,  is  the  enactment  of 
a  Republican  Congress. 

"I  repeat  that  this  unusual  form  presents  a 
dishonest  issue,  whether  so  intended  or  not.  It 
presents  the  issue  that  as  soon  as  the  Democrats 
got  possession  of  the  Federal  Government  they 
proceeded  to  enact  the  clause  which  is  thus 
expressed.  The  law  was  passed  by  a  Republican 
Congress  in  1865.  There  were  forty-six  Senators 
sitting  in  this  Chamber  at  the  time,  of  whom  only 
ten,  or  at  most  eleven,  were  Democrats.  The 
House  of  Representatives  was  overwhelmingly 
Republican.  We  were  in  the  midst  of  a  war. 
The  Republican  administration  had  a  million  or 
possibly  twelve  hundred  thousand  bayonets  at  its 
command.  Thus  circumstanced  and  thus  sur 
rounded,  with  the  amplest  possible  power  to 
interfere  with  elections  had  they  so  designed,  with 
soldiers  in  every  hamlet  and  county  in  the  United 
States,  the  Republican  party  themselves  placed 
that  provision  on  the  statute-book,  and  Abraham 
Lincoln,  their  President,  signed  it. 

"I  beg  you  to  observe,  Mr.  President,  that  this 
is  the  first  instance  in  the  legislation  of  the  United 
States  in  which  any  restrictive  clause  whatever 


KEENNESS    OF    PERCEPTION. 

was  put  upon  the  statute-book  in  regard  to  the 
use  of  troops  at  the  polls.  The  Republican  party 
did  it  with  the  Senate  and  the  House  in  their 
control.  Abraham  Lincoln  signed  it  when  he  was 
Commander-in-Chief  of  an  army  larger  than  ever 
Napoleon  Bonaparte  had  at  his  command.  So 
much  by  way  of  correcting  an  ingenious  and 
studied  attempt  at  misrepresentation. 

"The  alleged  object  is  to  strike  out  the  few 
words  that  authorize  the  use  of  troops  to  keep 
peace  at  the  polls.  This  country  has  been 
alarmed,  I  rather  think,  indeed,  amused,  at  the  great 
effort  made  to  create  a  widespread  impression 
that  the  Republican  party  relies  for  its  popular 
strength  upon  the  use  of  the  bayonet.  This 
Democratic  Congress  has  attempted  to  give  a  bad 
name  to  this  country  throughout  the  civilized 
world,  and  to  give  it  on  a  false  issue.  They  have 
raised  an  issue  that  has  no  foundation  in  fact — 
that  is  false  in  whole  and  detail,  false  in  the  charge, 
false  in  all  the  specifications.  That  impression 
sought  to  be  created,  as  I  say,  not  only  through 
out  the  North  American  continent,  but  in  Europe 
to-day,  is  that  elections  are  attempted  in  this 
country  to  be  controlled  by  the  bayonet. 

"  I  denounce  it  here  as  a  false  issue.  I  am  not 
at  liberty  to  say  that  any  gentleman  making  the 
issue  knows  it  to  be  false  ;  I  hope  he  does  not  ; 
but  I  am  going  to  prove  to  him  that  it  is  false,  and 
there  is  not  a  solitary  inch  of  solid  earth  on  which 


192  LIFE    OF    JAMES    G.  ELAINE. 

to  rest  the  foot  of  any  man  that  makes  that 
issue." 

Mr.  Elaine  then  gave  the  location  of  all  the 
armed  forces  of  the  Union  in  a  most  entertaining 
and  mirth-provoking  manner.  "I  believe,"  said 
he,  "the  Senator  from  Delaware  is  alarmed, 
greatly  alarmed,  about  the  over-riding  of  the 
popular  ballot  by  troops  of  the  United  States !  In 
Delaware  there  is  not  a  single  armed  man,  not 
one.  The  United  States  has  not  even  one  soldier 
in  the  State. 

"  The  honorable  Senator  from  West  Virginia 
[Mr.  HEREFORD]  on  Friday  last  lashed  himself 
into  a  passion,  or  at  least  into  a  perspiration,  over 
the  wrongs  of  his  State,  trodden  down  by  the 
iron  heel  of  military  despotism.  There  is  not  a 
solitary  man  of  the  United  States  uniformed  on 
the  soil  of  West  Virginia,  and  there  has  not  been 
for  years. 

"In  Maryland.  I  do  not  know  whether  my 
esteemed  friend  from  Maryland  [Mr.  WHYTE]  has 
been  greatly  alarmed  or  not  ;  but  at  Fort 
McHenry,  guarding  the  entrance  to  the  beautiful 
harbor  of  his  beautiful  city,  there  are  one  hundred 
and  ninety  two  artillerymen  located. 

"In  Virginia  there  is  a  school  of  practice  at 
Fortress  Monroe.  My  honorable  friend  who  has 
charge  of  this  bill  [Mr.  WITHERS]  knows  very 
well,  and  if  he  does  not  I  will  tell  him,  that  outside 
of  that  school  of  practice  at  Fortress  Monroe, 


KEENNESS    OF    PERCEPTION.  193 

which  has  two  hundred  and  eighty-two  men  in  it, 
there  is  not  a  Federal  soldier  on  the  soil  of 
Virginia — not  one. 

"  North  Carolina.  Are  the  Senators  from  that 
State  alarmed  at  the  immediate  and  terrible  pros 
pect  of  being  overrun  by  the  Army  of  the  United 
States  ?  On  the  whole  soil  of  North  Carolina 
there  are  but  thirty  soldiers  guarding  a  fort  at  the 
mouth  of  Cape  Fear  River — just  thirty. 

"South  Carolina.  I  do  not  see  a  Senator  on 
the  floor  from  that  State.  There  are  one  hundred 
and  twenty  artillerymen  guarding  the  approaches 
to  Charleston  Harbor,  and  not  another  soldier  on 
her  soil. 

"  Georgia.  Does  my  gallant  friend  from 
Georgia  [Mr.  GORDON]  who  knows  better  than  I 
the  force  and  strength  of  military  organization, 
the  senior  Senator,  and  the  junior  also — are  both 
or  either  of  those  Senators  alarmed  at  the 
presence  of  twenty-nine  soldiers  in  Georgia  ? 
There  are  just  twenty-nine  there. 

"  Tennessee.  Is  the  honorable  Senator  from 
Tennessee  [Mr.  BAILEY]  alarmed  at  the  progress 
of  military  despotism  in  his  State  ?  There  is  not 
a  single  Federal  soldier  on  the  soil  of  Tennessee, 
not  one. 

"Kentucky.  I  see  both  the  honorable  Sena 
tors  from  Kentucky  here.  They  have  equal 
cause  with  Tennessee  to  be  alarmed,  for  there 
is  not  a  Federal  soldier  in  Kentucky — not  one  ! 


12 


194  LIFE    OF   JAMES    G.  ELAINE. 

"  Missouri.     Not  one. 

"Arkansas.     Fifty-seven  in  Arkansas. 

''Alabama.  I  think  my  friend  from  Alabama 
[Mr.  MORGAN]  is  greatly  excited  over  this  ques 
tion,  and  in  his  State  there  are  thirty-two  Federal 
soldiers  located  at  an  arsenal  of  the  United  States. 

"  Mississippi.  The  great  State  of  Mississippi, 
that  is  in  danger  of  being  trodden  under  the  iron 
hoof  of  military  power,  has  not  a  Federal  soldier 
on  its  soil." 

Thus  did  the  ready  speaker  proceed  over  the 
several  states,  provoking  merriment  at  each  fresh 
disclosure  and  exposing  the  absolute  absurdity  of 
the  issue  then  so  grossly  magnified  by  his  oppo 
nents.  Returning  to  his  main  work  after  this 
statistical  by-play,  he  continued  : 

"  Mr.  President,  it  was  said,  as  the  old  maxim 
has  it,  that  the  soothsayers  of  Rome  could  not 
look  each  other  in  the  face  without  smiling.  There 
are  not  two  Democratic  Senators  on  this  floor 
who  can  go  into  the  cloak-room  and  look  each 
other  in  the  face  without  smiling  at  this  talk,  or, 
more  appropriately,  I  should  say,  without  blushing 
— the  whole  thing  is  such  a  prodigious  and  abso 
lute  farce,  such  a  miserably  manufactured  false 
issue,  such  a  pretense  without  the  slightest  found 
ation  in  the  world,  and  talked  about  most  and 
denounced  the  loudest  in  States  that  have  not  had 
a  single  Federal  soldier. 


lliliii  !•  .  ill  HI 


in   I    ,    li 


KEENNESS    OF   PERCEPTION.  1 97 

"  What,  then,  is  the  real  motive  underlying  this 
movement?  Senators  on  that  side,  Democratic  ora 
tors  on  the  stump,  cannot  make  any  sensible  set 
of  men  at  the  cross-roads  believe  that  they  are 
afraid  of  eleven  hundred  and  fifty-five  soldiers, 
distributed  one  to  each  county  in  the  South.  The 
minute  you  state  that  everybody  sees  the  utter 
palpable  and  laughable  absurdity  of  it,  and  there 
fore  we  must  go  further  and  find  a  motive  for  all 
this  cry.  We  want  to  find  out,  to  use  a  familiar 
and  vulgar  phrase,  what  is  "the  cat  under  the 
meal."  It  is  not  the  troops.  That  is  evident. 
There  are  more  troops,  by  fifty  per  cent,  scattered 
through  the  Northern  States  east  of  the  Missis 
sippi  to-day  than  through  the  Southern  States  east 
of  the  Mississippi,  and  yet  nobody  in  the  North 
speaks  of  it ;  everybody  would  be  laughed  at  for 
speaking  of  it ;  and  therefore  the  issue,  I  take  no 
risk  in  stating,  I  make  bold  to  declare,  that  this 
issue  on  the  troops,  being  a  false  one,  being  one 
without  foundation,  conceals  the  true  issue,  which 
is  simply  to  get  rid  of  the  Federal  presence  at 
Federal  elections,  to  get  rid  of  the  civil  power  of 
the  United  States  in  the  election  of  Representa 
tives  to  the  Congress  of  the  United  States.  That 
is  the  whole  of  it ;  and  disguise  it  as  you  may, 
there  is  nothing  else  in  it  or  of  it." 

This  merciless  method  of  exposing  what  Mr. 
Elaine's  judgment  condemned  made  him  an 
antagonist  not  to  be  aroused  with  impunity.  But 


198  LIFE    OF   JAMES    G.  ELAINE. 

he  did  not  need  to  be  "  stirred  up  "  for  an  attack. 
His  keen  scent  led  him  unerringly  to  the  exact 
lurking-place  of  evil,  and  when  it  was  discovered, 
his  indomitable  courage  never  faltered.  And  yet 
those  assailed  the  most  sharply  were  at  the  same 
time  so  held  by  Mr.  Elaine's  manner  that  they 
never  cherished  ill-will. 

The  late  Governor  Kent,  of  Maine,  summed  up 
Mr.  Elaine's  general  " quickness,"  or  "dash,"  or 
by  whatever  term  it  may  best  be  designated,  as 
follows  : 

"Almost  from  the  day  of  his  assuming  editorial 
charge  of  the  Kennebec  Joiirnal,  at  the  early  age 
of  twenty-three,  Mr.  Elaine  sprang  into  a  position 
of  great  influence  in  the  politics  and  policy  of 
Maine.  At  twenty-five  he  was  a  leading  power 
in  the  councils  of  the  Republican  party,  so  rec 
ognized  by  Fessenden,  Hamlin,  the  two  Merrills, 
and  others,  then  and  still  prominent  in  the  State. 
Before  he  was  twenty-nine  he  was  chairman  of  the 
executive  committee  of  the  Republican  organization 
in  Maine — a  position  he  has  held  ever  since,  and 
from  which  he  has  practically  shaped  and  directed 
every  political  campaign  in  the  State — always  lead 
ing  his  party  to  brilliant  victory.  Had  Mr.  Elaine 
been  New-England  born,  he  would  probably  not 
have  received  such  rapid  advancement  at  so  early  an 
age,  even  with  the  same  ability  he  possessed.  But 
there  was  a  sort  of  Western  dash  about  him  that  took 
with  us  Down-Easters ;  an  expression  of  frankness, 


KEENNESS    OF    PERCEPTION.  199 

candor  and  confidence  that  gave  him  from  the 
start  a  very  strong  and  permanent  hold  on  our 
people,  and  as  the  foundation  of  all,  a  pure  char 
acter  and  a  masterly  ability  equal  to  all  demands 
made  upon  him." 

As  a  reflection  on  Mr.  Elaine's  quickness  it  is 
asked,  disparagingly,  "What  great  measure  did 
Mr.  Elaine  ever  originate  ?  "  One  might  go  on 
indefinitely  asking  what  great  measure  did  Mr. 
Sherman  or  Mr.  Thurman  ever  originate,  or  Mr. 
Edmunds  or  Mr.  Conkling  or  Mr.  Webster  or  Mr. 
Gallatin  ?  Such  critics  and  such  criticisms  are 
equally  shallow.  Great  measures  grow  in  the 
minds  of  the  people.  Specie  payment  came  after 
long  public  discussion,  and  it  is  useless  to  be 
quarrelling  as  to  who  it  was  that  drafted  the  bill 
passed  in  1875.  S°  ^  ls  with  all  measures  of 
great  public  moment.  They  do  not  spring  from 
the  mind  of  one  man  sitting  behind  his  Congress 
ional  desk.  The  duty  of  the  statesman  is  to 
shape,  mould,  guide,  direct  in  a  Republican  gov 
ernment.  The  creative  power  is  in  the  minds  of 
many,  and  the  cause  of  action  is  necessity.  The 
great  lawyer  does  not  create  his  case.  He 
argues  it,  develops  it,  applies  principles  to  it,  but 
in  any  case  Mr.  Elaine  is  among  the  first  to  see, 
and  the  earlier  to  act. 

To  say  that  Mr.  Elaine  has  been  a  power  in 
Congress  for  the  past  seventeen  years  is  simply 
to  affirm  current  history.  Though  entering  very 


2OO  LIFE    OF    JAMES    G.  ELAINE. 

young,  he  made  his  mark  at  once.  '  At  the  period 
of  darkest  depressions  in  the  war,  when  anxiety 
brooded  everywhere  and  boded  everything,  Mr. 
Elaine  delivered  a  speech  on  "The  Ability  of  the 
American  People 'to  Suppress  the  Rebellion," 
which  has  been  cited  for  the  great  attention  an  el 
warm  commendation  it  received.  Its  value  lay 
not  alone  in  its  timeliness,  for  after  its  first  wide 
circulation  it  was  reprinted  as  a  campaign  docu 
ment  in  the  Presidential  campaign  of  1864. 

It  was  the  delivery  of  this  speech,  and  some 
discussions  which  took  place  shortly  after,  that 
caused  Thaddeus  Stevens  to  say  that  "  Elaine  of 
Maine  has  shown  as  great  aptitude  and  ability 
for  the  higher  walks  of  public  life  as  any  man  that 
had  come  to  Congress  during  his  period  of  ser 
vice." 


CHAPTER    XIV. 

"STIRRING   UP   STRIFE." 

ON  May  I9th,  1879,  there  was  a  lively  time  in 
the  Senate  on  the  question  of  National  Sov 
ereignty  versus  State  Sovereignty.  The  question 
before  the  Senate  was  a  bill  making  appropria 
tions  for  the  legislative,  executive,  and  judicial 
expenses  of  the  Government,  but  discussion  took 
a  wide  range,  and  abounded  in  cross-firing  of  wit 
and  repartee.  Mr.  Elaine  had  the  floor,  but  Mr. 
Eaton,  of  Connecticut,  Mr.  Bayard,  of  Delaware, 
Mr.  Butler,  of  South  Carolina,  and  others,  figured 
largely  in  the  discussions.  Toward  the  close 
of  the  discussion,  Mr.  Blaine,  -continuing  his 
frequently  interrupted  speech,  and  seeking  to 
unearth  the  sources  of  existing  ill-will,  said  : 

11 1  do  not  think  the  evil  that  has  been  done 
to  the  Southern  country  by  the  school-books  in  the 
hands  of  their  children  has  been  measured. 
Many  of  the  books  put  into  the  hands  of  the  rising 
generation  of  the  South  are  tinctured  all  through 
with  prejudice  and  misrepresentation  and  with  a 
spirit  of  hatred. 

"We  are  accused  by  our  friends  on  the 
opposite  side  of  the  Chamber  of  stirring  up  strife 

201 


2O2  LIFE    OF   JAMES    G.    ELAINE. 

and  generating  hatred.  I  do  not  believe  it  would 
be  possible  to  find  in  all  the  literature  of  the  North 
for  the  schools  and  for  the  young  a  solitary  para 
graph  intended  or  calculated  to  arouse  hatred  or 
suggest  unpatriotic  feelings  toward  any  portion 
of  the  Union.  A  large  portion  of  the  South  has 
been  furnished  with  special  school-books  calculated 
for  the  meridian,  with  the  facts  appended  to  suit 
that  particular  locality.  It  was  said  that  for  two 
generations  a  large  portion  of  the  English  people 
believed  that  the  American  colonies  had  never 
achieved  their  independence,  but  had  been  kicked 
off  as  a  useless  appendage  to  the  British  Empire, 
and  that  they  were  glad  to  be  rid  of  us. 

"There  is  a  large  number  of  the  school  children 
in  the  South  who  are  educated  with  radically 
wrong  notions  and  radically  erroneous  facts.  I 
saw  an  arithmetic  that  was  filled  with  examples- 
think  of  putting  politics  into  an  arithmetic — such 
as  this  :  If  ten  cowardly  Yankees  had  so  many 
miles  the  start,  and  five  brave  Confederates  were 
following  them,  the  first  going  at  so  many  miles 
an  hour,  and  the  others  following  at  so  many  miles 
an  hour,  how  long  before  the  Yankees  would  be 
overtaken  ?  Now,  think  of  putting  that  deliber 
ately  in  a  school-book  and  having  school  histories 
made  up  on  that  basis  for  children.  I  have  here 
from  a  gentleman  who,  I  believe,  is  a  man  of  high 
position,  an  extract  which  is  so  pertinent  that  I 
desire  to  read  it.  It  is  from  an  address  before 


STIRRING    UP    STRIFE.  203 

the  literary  societies  of  the  Virginia  University, 
by  Mr.  John  S.  Preston,  a  gentleman  of  distinction, 
I  believe,  in  the  State  of  South  Carolina.  I  want 
to  read  this  merely  to  put  it  on  record  to  show 
the  pabulum  on  which  the  Southern  mind  feeds  : 

'  The  Mayflower  freight,  under  the  laws  of  England,  was 
heresy  and  crime.  The  Jamestown  emigrant  was  an 
English  freeman,  loyal  to  his  country  and  his  God,  with 
England's  honor  in  his  heart  and  English  piety  in  his 
soul,  and  carrying  in  his  right  hand  the  charters,  usages, 
and  the  laws  which  were  achieving  the  regenerations  of 
England.  *  *  *  These  two  peoples  spoke  the  same 
language,  and  nominally  read  the  same  Bible ;  but  like 
the  offspring  of  the  Syrian  princes,  they  were  two  manner 
of  people,  and  they  could  not  coalesce  or  commune. 
Their  feud  began  beyond  the  broad  Atlantic,  and  has 
never  ceased  on  its  Western  shores.  Not  space,  or  time, 
or  the  convenience  of  any  human  law,  or  the  power  of 
any  human  arm,  can  reconcile  institutions  for  the  turbu 
lent  fanatic  of  Plymouth  Rock  and  the  God-fearing 
Christian  of  Jamestown.  You  may  assign  them  to  the 
closest  territorial  proximity,  with  all  the  forms,  modes, 
and  shows  of  civilization ;  but  you  can  never  cement 
them  into  the  bonds  of  brotherhood.  Great  nature,  in 
her  supremest  law,  forbids  it.  Territorial  localization 
drove  them  to  a  hollow  and  unnatural  armistice  in  effect 
ing  their  segregation  from  England — the  one  for  the  lucre 
of  traffic,  the  other  to  obtain  a  more  perfect  law  of  liberty ; 
the  one  to  destroy  foreign  tea,  the  other  to  drive  out  for 
eign  tyrants  ;  the  one  to  offer  thanksgiving  for  the  fruit 
of  the  earth,  the  other  to  celebrate  the  gift  of  grace  by  the 
birth  of  Christ' 


204  LIFE    OF    JAMES    G.    ELAINE. 

"I  know  the  piety  of  New  England  has  some 
times  been  criticised,  but  I  never  before  heard 
of  such  fervent  zeal  among  the  Jamestown 
emigrants." 

MR.  BUTLER.     What  is  the  date  of  that  ? 

MR.  ELAINE.  I  think  in  1875  or  l&76-  Does 
the  Senator  from  South  Carolina  think  that  is 
enough  to  establish  a  statute  of  limitations  ? 

MR.  BUTLER.     I  say  nothing  about  it. 

MR.  MORGAN.     May  I  be  allowed  a  word  ? 

MR.  BLAINE.     Certainly. 

MR.  MORGAN.  I  have  not  seen  all  these  arith 
metics,  or  school  histories  either,  to  which  the 
Senator  from  Maine  refers.  I  doubt  very  much 
their  existence,  unless  the  Senator  has  them 
present  to  prove  the  fact.  I  refer  now  to  those 
published  since  the  war. 

MR.  BLAINE.  I  refer  only  to  those  published 
since  the  war. 

MR.  MORGAN.  There  is  some  other  literature, 
however,  in  the  Southern  States  which  I  will  call 
the  attention  of  the  Senator  from  Maine  to,  that 
perhaps  would  indicate  that  there  was  some 
necessity  for  counter  proceedings  for  the  purpose 
of  infusing  the  minds  of  the  people  down  there 
with  correct  ideas  on  political  questions.  I  hold 
in  my  hand  the  "minutes  of  the  twelfth  session  of 
the  Alabama  Conference  of  the  African  Methodist 
Episcopal  Church,  held  at  Mobile,  Alabama,  in 
Emmanuel  church,  December  18,  19,  20,  21,  and 


STIRRING    UP    STRIFE.  2O5 

22,  1878,  Right  Reverend  Bishop  J.  P.  Campbell, 
D.  D.,  LL.  D.,  president."  He  is  a  colored  man, 
and  a  very  learned  man  I  am  told.  On  page  1 3 
of  the  minutes  of  that  conference  I  find  the  follow 
ing  entry : 

"  Committee  on  letters  and  petitions  : 

"  First.  Complaint  against  Z.  Taylor,  of  Birmingham, 
for  voting  Democratic  ticket,  signed  by  United  States 
marshal." 

The  decision  was  : 

"  His  case  out  of  jurisdiction  of  this  conference ;  belongs 
to  North  Alabama  conference."  [Laughter.] 

I  have  no  comment  to  make  upon  that. 

MR.  ELAINE.  That  begins  to  show  me  that  the 
claim  for  piety  in  the  South  that  Mr.  Preston 
makes  has  some  foundation.  [  Laughter.]  If 
they  begin  to  bring  up  men  before  church  con 
ferences  for  voting  the  Democratic,  State-rights, 
secession  ticket,  I  think  it  is  good  evidence  of 
reform.  [  Laughter.]  It  gives  some  ground  of 
patriotic  hope  for  the  future. 
1  "I  have  here  also  a  speech  delivered  by  the 
honorable  Senator  from  South  Carolina,  the  junior 
Senator  from  that  State  [MR.  HAMPTON],  before 
the  Historical  Society,  I  believe,  of  the  South,  and 
this  has  arrested  my  attention.  Of  course,  I  read 
it  in  no  spirit  of  captious  or  personal  criticism,  but 
as  a  great  public  document ;  and  if  what  I  read 
means  anything,  it  means  a  great  deal : 


2O6  LIFE    OF    JAMES    G.    ELAINE. 

'These  are  the  lessons  our  children  should  karn  from 
their  mothers.  Nor  are  these  the  only  ones  which  should 
be  inculcated,  for  the  pages  of  history  furnish  many 
which  should  not  be  overlooked.  These  teach,  in  the 
clearest  and  most  emphatic  manner,  that  there  is  always 
hope  for  a  people  who  cherish  the  spirit  of  freedom,  who 
will  not  tamely  give  up  their  rights,  and  who,  amid  all 
the  changes  of  time,  the  trials  of  adversity,  remain  stead 
fast  to  their  convictions  that  liberty  is  their  birthright. 
*  *  *  *  *  *  #  * 

'  When  Napoleon  in  that  wonderful  campaign  of  Jena, 
struck  down  in  a  few  weeks  the  whole  military  strength 
of  Prussia,  destroyed  that  army  with  which  the  great 
Frederick  had  held  at  bay  the  combined  forces  of  Europe, 
and  crushed  out,  apparently  forever,  the  liberties,  seem 
ingly  the  very  existence  of  that  great  state,  but  one  hope 
of  disenthrallment  and  regeneration  was  left  her — the 
unconquered  and  unconquerable  patriotism  of  her  sons. 
As  far  as  human  foresight  could  penetrate  the  future,  this 
hope  appeared  but  a  vain  and  delusive  one ;  yet  only  a 
few  years  passed  before  her  troops  turned  the  scale  of 
victory  of  Waterloo,  and  the  treaty  of  Paris  atoned  in 
part  for  the  mortification  of  that  of  Tilsit. 
******** 

'  She  educated  her  children  by  a  system  which  made 
them  good  citizens  in  peace  and  formidable  soldiers  in 
war  ;  she  kindled  and  kept  alive  the  sacred  fire  of  patriot 
ism  ;  she  woke  the  slumbering  spirit  of  the  Fatherland ; 
and  what  has  been  the  result  of  this  self-devotion  of  a 
whole  people  for  half  a  century?  Single-handed  she 
has  just  met  her  old  antagonist.  The  shame  of  her  de 
feats  of  yore  has  been  wiped  out  by  glorious  victories; 
the  contributions  extorted  from  her  have  been  more  than 


STIRRING    UP    STRIFE.  2O7 

\-epaid ;  her  insults  have  been  avenged,  and  her  victorious 
eagles,  sweeping  over  the  broken  lilies  of  her  enemy, 
vaved  in  triumph  from  the  walls  of  conquered  Paris, 
while  she  dictated  peace  to  prostrate  and  humbled  France, 
[s  not  the  moral  to  be  drawn  from  this  noble  dedication 
;>f  a  people  to  the  interests  and  honor  of  their  country 
tvorth  rememberiug. 

'  Hungary  in  her  recent  struggle  to  throw  off  the  yoke 
of  Austria  was  crushed  to  the  earth,  and  yet  to-day  the 
Hungarians,  as  citizens  of  Austria,  exercise  a  controlling 
power  in  that  great  empire.' 

"I  say,  if  that  means  anything,  it  means  a  great 
deal.  If  that  means  anything  at  all,  it  means  the 
education  of  the  rising  generation  of  the  South 
for  another  conflict;  it  means  that  or  else  it  is 
vapid  and  idle  rhetoric.  And  I  say  again,  Mr. 
President,  that  throughout  the  length  and  breadth 
of  the  South  the  one  evil  omen  of  to-day  is  the 
literature  that  is  given  to  the  children  and  the 
intellectual  food  that  is  offered  to  all  the  young  and 
rising  men  in  the  institutions  of  learning,  in  their 
academies,  their  colleges,  their  universities 

Mr.  HAMPTON.  May  I  ask  the  Senator  from 
Maine  to  yield  to  me  for  a  moment? 

Mr.  ELAINE.     With  great  pleasure. 

Mr,  HAMPTON.  The  words  which  he  has  done 
me  the  honor  to  quote  do  not  mean  what  he 
is  pleased  to  call  another  rebellion.  If  it  is  "idle 
and  vapid  rhetoric,"  I  admit  that  it  is  not  such 
rhetoric  as  he  pours  out ;  but  if  it  is  vapid  and  idle 


2O8  LIFE    OF   JAMES    G.    ELAINE. 

rhetoric  I  have  only  to  plead  guilty  to  the  charge 
when  made  by  him. 

Mr.  ELAINE.  If  the  Senator  speaks  of  a 
revival  of  a  power  that  was  once  conquered,  to  be 
victorious  at  another  Waterloo,  with  a  crowning 
peace  in  Paris  to  atone  for  the  humiliation  oi 
Tilsit — if  that  means  anything  by  analogy  at  all,  it 
has  a  deep  and  far-reaching  significance. 

Mr.  HAMPTON. 

"  Peace  hath  her  victories 
No  less  renowned  than  war.  " 

Mr.  ELAINE.  But  peace  does  not  celebrate 
her  victories  on  the  plains  of  Waterloo.  That  is 
where  war  celebrates  its  triumphs.  Peace  does 
not  celebrate  itself  by  great  armed  hosts  that  are 
employed  and  marshaled  for  avenging  insult,  to 
which  the  honorable  Senator  called  attention. 
That  is  not  the  language  of  peace,  and  without 
the  slightest  intention  to  say  anything  discourteous, 
I  say  it  is  mere  rhetoric — Heave  out  the  adjective — 
it  is  mere  rhetoric,  or  it  is  a  prodigious  menace. 
It  is  the  one  or  the  other. 

"  As  to  the  pending  bill,  I  need  only  to  say  that 
the  laws  proposed  to  be  repealed  are  precisely 
the  kind  which  Mr.  Webster  alluded  to  when  he 
addressed  Mr.  Calhoun;  laws  that  have  received 
the  sanction  of  Congress  and  been  for  years  on 
the  statute-bool^.  They  are  there  properly.  They 
have  secured  justice;  they  have  assured  fair  and 
equal  elections ;  they  ought  to  be  upheld ;  and  to 


STIRRING    UP    STRIFE.  2OQ 

this  hour  not  one  solitary  reason  has  been  shown 
for  their  repeal,  with  the  single  exception  of  a 
desire  to  grasp  artisan  power.  It  all  moves  in  one 
direction.  Every  step  has  been  taken  since  the 
Democratic  party  got  into  power  in  the  House 
and  in  the  Senate  in  one  direction,  and  that 
direction  has  been  to  the  striking  down  of  the 
Federal  power  and  the  exaltation  of  the  State 
power.  This  measure  is  but  one.  Others  have 
gone  before  it;  others  are  to  follow  it.  What 
may  be  their  fate  I  do  not  know.  We  on  this 
side  will  resist  by  every  constitutional  means,  and 
you  on  that  side,  despite  the  threats  of  the  Sen 
ator  from  Connecticut,  will  be  obliged  to  submit 
in  the  end,  and  the  power  of  this  Government  will 
not  be  put  down  by  a  threat ;  it  will  not  be  put 
down  by  a  combination ;  it  will  not  be  put  down 
by  a  political  party.  It  was  not  put  down  by  a 
rebellion.  It  can  meet  another,  either  in  the  form 
of  organized  resistance  in  withholding  supplies,  or 
in  the  more  serious  form  which  the  language  of 
the  Senator  from  South  Carolina  seemed  to  fore 
shadow." 

Thus  squarely  did  Mr.  Elaine  meet  any  and  alJ 
comers  in  the  interests  of  opposition  to  the 
national  life  and  prosperity.  His  fulness  of 
information,  his  facility  of  expression,  and  his 
capacity  for  instantaneous  and  telling  reply,  made 
him  effective  at  all  times.  At  the  close  of  this 


2IO  LIFE    OF    JAMES    G.    ELAINE. 

particular  effort,  the  galleries  broke  into  prolonged 
applause,  which  the  President  of  the  Senate  was 
for  a  time  powerless  to  check.  For  the  passing 
moment  it  might  seem  that  Mr.  Elaine  did  stir  up 
strife,  but  his  was  the  work  of  the  skillful  surgeon 
who  cuts  to  cure ;  who  seeks  sound  healing  rather 
than  superficial  smoothness. 


CHAPTER  XV. 

WITHERING    SARCASM. 

IT  will  be  remembered  that  in  April,  1879,  the 
passing  of  .the  necessary  appropriation  bills  was 
refused  on  the  decision  of  the  Democratic  caucus, 
unless  accompanied  with  the  passage  of  certain 
other  bills,  planned  and  favored  by  the  same 
authority.  Such  an  effort  to  coerce  legislation 
could  but  arouse  the  indignation  of  every  free 
and  fearless  man,  and  it  did  thoroughly  arouse 
Mr.  Elaine,  and  call  forth  his  withering  power  of 
denunciation  and  sarcasm,  which  weapons  he 
employs  reluctantly,  and  never  except  on  pressing 
occasions.  On  this  movement  he  spoke  thus  in 
the  Senate : 

"  We  are  told,  too,  rather  a  novel  thing,  that  if 
we  do  not  take  these  laws,  we  are  not  to  have  the 
appropriations.  I  believe  it  has  been  announced 
in  both  branches  of  Congress,  I  suppose  on  the 
authority  of  the  Democratic  caucus,  that  if  we  do 
not  take  these  bills  as  they  are  planned,  we  shall 
not  have  any  of  the  appropriations  that  go  with 
them.  The  honorable  Senator  from  West  Vir 
ginia  [Mr.  HEREFORD]  told  it  to  us  on  Friday  ; 
the  honorable  Senator  from  Ohio  [Mr.  THURMAN] 
13 


212  LIFE    OF   JAMES    G.  ELAINE. 

told  it  to  us  last  session  ;  the  honorable  Senator 
from  Kentucky  [Mr.  BECK]  told  it  to  us  at  the 
same  time,  and  I  am  not  permitted  to  speak 
of  the  legions  who  told  us  so  in  the  other  House. 
They  say  all  these  appropriations  are  to  be 
refused — not  merely  the  Army  appropriation,  for 
they  do  not  stop  at  that.  Look,  for  a  moment,  at 
the  legislative  bill  that  came  from  the  Democratic 
caucus.  Here  is  an  appropriation  in  it, for  defray 
ing  the  expenses  of  the  Supreme  Court  and  the 
circuit  and  district  courts  of  the  United  States, 
including  the  District  of  Columbia,  &c., 
'$2,800,000:'  'Provided' — provided  what? — 
'  That  the  following  sections  of  the  Revised 
Statutes  relating  to  elections '  (Going  on  to  recite 
them)  '  be  repealed/ 

"That  is,  you  will  pass  an  appropriation  for  the 
support  of  the  judiciary  of  the  United  States  only 
on  condition  of  this  repeal.  We  often  speak  of 
this  government  being  devided  between  three 
great  departments,  the  executive,  the  legislative, 
and  the  judicial — co-ordinate,  independent,  equal. 
The  legislative,  under  the  control  of  a  Democratic 
caucus,  now  steps  forward  and  says,  '  We  offer  to 
the  Executive  this  bill,  and  if  he  does  not  sign  it, 
we  are  going  to  starve  the  judiciary/  That  is 
carrying  the  thing  a  little  further  than  I  have  ever 
known.  We  do  not  merely  propose  to  starve  the 
Executive  if  he  will  not  sign  the  bill,  but  we  pro 
pose  to  starve  the  judiciary  that  has  had  nothing 


WITHERING    SARCASM.  213 

whatever  to  do  with  the  question.  That  has  been 
boldly  avowed  on  this  floor  ;  that  has  been  boldly 
avowed  in  the  other  House  ;  that  has  been  boldly 
avowed  in  Democratic  papers  throughout  the 
country. 

"And  you  propose  not  merely  to  starve  the 
judiciary,  but  you  propose  that  you  will  not  appro 
priate  a  solitary  dollar  to  take  care  of  this  Capitol. 
The  men  who  take  care  of  this  great  amount  of 
public  property  are  provided  for  in  that  bill.  You 
say  they  shall  not  have  any  pay  if  the  President 
will  not  agree  to  change  the  election  laws.  There 
is  the  public  printing  that  goes  on  for  the  enlight- 
ment  of  the  whole  country  and  for  printing  the 
public  documents  of  every  one  of  the  depart 
ments.  You  say  they  shall  not  have  a  dollar  for 
public  printing  unless  the  President  agrees  to 
repeal  these  laws. 

"  There  is  the  Congressional  Library  that  ha  j 
become  the  pride  of  the  whole  American  peop  e 
for  its  magnificent  growth  and  extent.  You  s  xy 
it  shall  not  have  one  dollar  to  take  care  of  it, 
much  less  add  a  new  book,  unless  the  President 
signs  these  bills.  There  is  the  Department  of 
State  that  we  think  throughout  the  history  rf  the 
Government  has  been  a  great  pride  to  this  country 
for  the  ability  with  which  it  has  conducted  our 
foreign  affairs  ;  it  is  also  to  be  starved.  You  say 
we  shall  not  have  any  intercourse  with  foreign 
nations,  not  a  dollar  shall  be  appropriated  there- 


214  LIFE    OF   JAMES    G.  ELAINE. 

for  unless  the  President  signs  these  bills.  There 
is  the  Light-House  Board  that  provides  for  the 
beacons  and  the  warnings  on  seventeen  thousand 
miles  of  sea  and  gulf  and  lake  coast.  You  say 
those  lights  shall  all  go  out  and  not  a  dollar  shall 
be  appropriated  for  the  board  if  the  President 
does  not  sign  these  bills.  There  are  the  mints  of 
the  United  States  at  Philadelphia,  New  Orleans, 
Denver,  San  Francisco,  coining  silver  and  coining 
gold — not  a  dollar  shall  be  appropriated  for  them 
if  the  President  does  not  sign  these  bills.  There 
is  the  Patent  office,  the  patents  issued  which 
embody  the  invention  of  the  country — not  a  dollar 
for  them.  The  Pension  Bureau  shall  cease  its 
operations  unless  these  bills  are  signed,  and 
patriotic  soldiers  may  starve.  The  Agricultural 
Bureau,  the  Post  Office  Department,  every  one  of 
the  great  executive  functions  of  the  Government 
is  threatened,  taken  by  the  throat,  highwayman 
style,  collared  on  the  highway,  commanded  to 
stand  and  deliver  in  the  name  of  the  Democratic 
congressional  caucus.  That  is  what  it  is  ;  simply 
that.  No  committee  of  this  Congress  in  either 
branch  has  ever  recommended  that  legislation — 
not  one.  Simply  a  Democratic  caucus  has  done 
it. 

"  Of  course,  this  is  new.  We  are  learning  some 
thing  every  day.  I  think  you  may  search  the 
records  of  the  Federal  Government  in  vain  ;  it 
will  take  some  one  much  more  industrious  in  that 


WITHERING    SARCASM.  215 

search  than  I  have  ever  been,  and  much  more 
observant  than  I  have  ever  been,  to  find  any  pos 
sible  parallel  or  any  possible  suggestion  in  our 
past  history  of  any  such  thing.  Most  of  the 
Senators  who  sit  in  this  chamber  can  remember 
some  vetoes  by  Presidents  that  shook  this  country 
to  its  centre  with  excitement.  The  veto  of  the 
national  bank  bill  by  Jackson  in  1832,  remembered 
by  the  oldest  in  this  Chamber ;  the  veto  of  the 
national  bank  bill  in  1841  by  Tyler,  remembered 
by  those  not  the  oldest,  shook  this  country  with  a 
political  excitement  which  up  to  that  time  had 
scarcely  a  parallel ;  and  it  was  believed,  whether 
rightfully  or  wrongfully  is  no  matter,  it  was 
believed  by  those  who  advocated  those  financial 
measures  at  the  time,  that  they  were  of  the  very 
last  importance  to  the  well-being  and  pros 
perity  of  the  people  of  the  Union.  That  was 
believed  by  the  great  and  shining  lights  of  that 
day.  It  was  believed  by  that  man  of  imperial 
character  and  imperious  will,  the  great  Senator 
from  Kentucky.  It  was  believed  by  Mr.  Webster, 
the  greatest  of  New  England  Senators.  When 
Jackson  vetoed  the  one  or  Tyler  vetoed  the  other, 
did  you  ever  hear  a  suggestion  that  those  bank 
charters  should  be  put  on  appropriation  bills,  or 
that  there  should  not  be  a  dollar  to  run  the  Gov 
ernment  until  they  were  signed  ?  So  far  from 
it  that,  in  1841,  when  temper  was  at  its  height; 
when  the  Whig  party,  in  addition  to  losing  their 


2l6  LIFE    OF   JAMES    G.  ELAINE. 

great  measure,  lost  it  under  the  sting  and  the 
irritation  of  what  they  believed  was  a  desertion  by 
the  President  whom  they  had  chosen  ;  and  when 
Mr.  Clay,  goaded  by  all  these  considerations,  rose 
to  debate  the  question  in  the  Senate,  he  repelled 
the  suggestion  of  William  C.  Rives,  of  Virginia, 
who  attempted  to  make  upon  him  the  point  that 
he  had  indulged  in  some  threat  involving  the  inde 
pendence  of  the  Executive.  Mr.  Clay  rose  to 
his  full  height  and  thus  responded : 

"  '  I  said  nothing  whatever  of  any  obligation  on  the  part 
of  the  President  to  conform  his  judgment  to  the  opinions 
of  the  Senate  and  the  House  of  Representatives,  although 
the  Senator  argued  as  if  I  had,  and  persevered  in  so  argu 
ing  after  repeated  correction.  I  said  no  such  thing.  I 
know  and  I  respect  the  perfect  independence  of  each 
department,  acting  within  its  proper  sphere,  of  the  other 
departments.' 

"The  late  vice-president  of  the  confederacy 
boasted — perhaps  I  had  better  say  stated — that 
for  sixty  out  of  the  seventy-two  years  preceding 
the  outbreak  of  the  Rebellion,  from  the  foundation 
of  the  Government,  the  South,  though  in  a  min 
ority,  had,  by  combining  with  what  he  termed  the 
anti-centralists  in  the  North,  ruled  the  country  ; 
and  in  1866  the  same  gentleman  indicated  in  a 
speech,  I  think  before  the  Legislature  of  Georgia, 
that  by  a  return  to  Congress  the  South  might 
repeat  the  experiment  with  the  same  successful 
result.  I  read  that  speech  at  the  time  ;  but  I  little 


WITHERING    SARCASM.  21  7 

thought  I  should  live  to  see  so  near  a  fulfillment 
of  its    prediction.     I    see    here    to-day  two  great 
measures  emanating,  as  I  have  said,  not  from  a 
committee  of  either  House,  but  from  a  Democratic 
caucus   in  which  the  South  has  an  overwhelming 
majority,    two-thirds    in    the    House,  and  out  of 
forty-two  Senators  on  the  other  side  of  this  Cham 
ber  professing  the  Democratic  faith  thirty  are  from 
the    South — twenty-three,    a    positive    and    pro 
nounced  majority,  having  themselves  been  parti 
cipants  in  the  war  against  the  Union,  either  in 
military  or  civil  station.     So  that  as  a  matter  of 
fact,  plainly  deducible  from  counting  your  fingers, 
the  legislation  of  this  country  to-day,  shaped  and 
fashioned  in  a  Democratic  caucus  where  the  con 
federates  of  the  South  hold  the  majority,  is  the 
realization  of  Mr.  Stephens'  prophecy.     And  very 
appropriately  the  House  under  that  control  and 
the  Senate  under  that  control,  embodying  thus 
the  entire  legislative  powers  of  the  Government, 
deriving  its    political    strength    from    the    South, 
elected  from  the  South,  say  to  the   President  of 
the  United  States,  at  the  head  of  the   Executive 
Department   of  the  Government,   elected  as  he 
was  from  the  North — elected  by  the  whole  people, 
but  elected  as  a  Northern  man  ;  elected  on  Repub 
lican  principles,  elected  in  opposition  to  the  party 
that  controls  both  branches  of  Congress  to-day — 
they  naturally  say,   '  You  shall  not  exercise  your 
constitutional  power  to  veto  a  bill.' 


2l8  LIFE    OF   JAMES    G.    ELAINE. 

"I  do  not  profess  to  know,  Mr.  President,  least 
of  all  Senators  on  this  floor,  certainly  as  little  as 
any  Senator  on  this  floor,  do  I  profess  to  know, 
what  the  President  of  the  United  States  will  do 
when  these  bills  are  presented  to  him,  as  I  sup 
pose,  in  due  course  of  time,  they  will  be.  I  cer 
tainly  should  never  speak  a  solitary  word  of  dis 
respect  of  the  gentleman  holding  that  exalted 
position,  and  I  hope  I  should  not  speak  a  word 
unbefitting  the  dignity  of  the  office  of  a  Senator 
of  the  United  States.  But  as  there  has  been 
speculation  here  and  there  on  both  sides  as  to 
what  he  would  do,  it  seems  to  me  that  the  dead 
heroes  of  the  Union  would  rise  from  their  graves 
if  he  should  consent  to  be  intimidated  and  out 
raged  in  his  proper  constitutional  power  by 
threats  like  these. 

"  All  the  war  measures  of  Abraham  Lincoln  are 
to  be  wiped  out,  say  leading  Democrats !  The 
Bourbons  of  France  busied  themselves,  I  believe, 
after  the  restoration  in  removing  every  trace  of 
Napoleon's  power  and  grandeur,  even  chiseling 
the  "  N  "  from  public  monuments  raised  to  per 
petuate  his  glory  ;  but  the  dead  man's  hand  from 
Saint  Helena  reached  out  and  destroyed  them  in 
their  pride  and  in  their  folly.  And  I  tell  the 
Senators  on  the  other  side  of  this  Chamber — I 
tell  the  Democratic  party  North  and  South — South 
in  the  lead  and  North  following, — that,  the  slow, 
unmoving  finger  of  scorn,  from  the  tomb  of  the 


WITHERING    SARCASM  2IQ 

martyred  President  on  the  praries  of  Illinois,  will 
wither  and  destroy  them.  Though  dead  he 
speaketh. 

"When  you  present  these  bills  with  these 
threats  to  the  living  President,  who  bore  the  com 
mission  of  Abraham  Lincoln  and  served  with 
honor  in  the  Army  of  the  Union,  which  Lincoln 
restored  and  preserved,  I  can  think  only  of  one 
appropriate  response  from  his  lips  or  his  pen.  He 
should  say  to  you  with  all  the  scorn  befitting  his 
station : 

*  Is  thy  servant  a  dog  that  he  should  do  this  thing  ? ' ' 


CHAPTER  XVI. 

IRISH-AMERICAN    AND    GERMAN    QUESTIONS. 

THE  record  of  the  Elaine  family  on  all  questions 
relating  to  American  citizens  of  Irish  descent,  as 
well  as  the  political  position  of  Ireland  and  the 
Irish  at  home,  has  been  marked  and  unmistak 
able,  going  back  as  far  as  the  Revolution  and  con 
tinuing  to  the  present  hour.  The  blood  of  James 
G.  Elaine  is  of  the  most  direct  Scotch-Irish,  and 
he  has  all  the  good  qualities  of  that  impetuous, 
earnest,  affectionate,  courageous  and  kind-hearted 
race.  The  following  paragraph  is  from  a  trust 
worthy  source,  and  is  known  to  be  accurate  by 
the  oldest  citizens  of  Washington  and  Cumberland 
Counties,  in  Pennsylvania : 

Prominent  in  the  list  of  members  of  the  ''Friendly 
Sons  of  St.  Patrick,"  for  1780,  is  the  name  of 
Colonel  Ephraim  Elaine,  the  grandfather  of  the 
"  Plumed  Knight."  The  society  changed  its  name, 
in  1790,  to  "The  Hibernian  Society."  No  one 
could  ever  be  a  member  unless  of  Irish  birth  or  of 
direct  Irish  descent.  The  only  exception  ever 
made  was  in  the  case  of  General  George  Wash 
ington,  who  was  an  adopted  member.  Among 
the  distinguished  men  who  have  belonged  to  the 


220 


THE    IRISH-AMERICAN    QUESTION.  221 

society  are  Matthew  Mease,  purser  of  the  Bon- 
homme  Richard,  one  of  a  family  that  afterward 
changed  its  name  to  Butler,  to  inherit  some  prop 
erty  in  Ireland  ;  one  member  of  it,  Pierce  Butler, 
married  Fannie  Kemble,  the  famous  actress ; 
Thomas  Read,  commander  of  the  Alliance  frigate  ; 
Thomas  Fitzsimmons,  of  the  Continental  Congress; 
Robert  Gray,  of  Gray's  Ferry  ;  General  Anthony 
Wayne,  and  many  others.  As  the  portrait  of 
Marino  Faliero,  the  traitor,  is  represented  by  a 
tablet  in  the  collection  of  portraits  of  the  Venetian 
Doges,  so  the  one  black  sheep  of  the  society  is 
represented  in  the  list  of  members  by  Captain 
Thomas  Batt,  whose  name  appears  with  the  mar 
ginal  note :  "  Expelled  for  disloyalty  to  the  col 
onial  cause." 

Mr.  Blaine,  no  longer  ago  than  the  last  Presi 
dential  election,  wrote  a  letter  of  no  uncertain 
import.  The  newspapers  of  England  have  ade 
quate  reason,  from  a  selfish  standpoint,  for  attack 
ing  Mr.  Blaine.  All  our  commercial  interests  are 
in  conflict  with  England,  and  while  that  great 
country  is  secure  in  the  knowledge  that  the  United 
States  will  make  no  encroachments  on  its  control 
of  the  world's  trade,  there  will  be  nothing  but 
praise  from  its  statesmen  and  newspapers  for  the 
administration  that  happens  to  be  in  power  in 
this  country.  But  once  let  it  be  understood  that 
the  United  States  Government  intends  to  advance 
its  own  interests  and  claim  the  supremacy  that 


222  LIFE    OF    JAMES    G.    ELAINE. 

belongs  to  it — in  the  great  South  American  and 
Eastern  trade  particularly — then  the  English 
press,  inspired  by  the  government,  which  is  their 
master,  will  contain  nothing  but  adverse  criticism 
and  abuse  of  us.  So  it  is  just  as  well  that  Mr. 
Elaine  is  not  popular  in  England. 

The  following  letter  was  written  by  Mr.  Elaine 
to  a  very  prominent  and  influential  Irishman  in 
Eastern  Maine  nearly  four  years  ago  : 

"AUGUSTA,  Maine,  Oct.  27,  1880. 

"  MY  DEAR  SIR  :  I  received  your  friendly  letter  with 
much  pleasure.  Let  me  say,  in  reply,  that  the  course  of 
yourself  and  other  Irish  voters  is  one  of  the  most  extraor 
dinary  anomalies  in  our  political  history.  Never,  proba 
bly,  since  the  execution  of  Robert  Emmett,  has  the  feel 
ing  of  Irishmen,  the  world  over,  been  so  bitter  against 
England  and  Englishmen  as  it  is  at  this  hour.  And  yet 
the  great  mass  of  the  Irish  voters  in  the  United  States 

o 

will,  on  Tuesday  next,  vote  precisely  as  Englishmen 
would  have  them  vote,  for  the  interests  of  England. 

"  Having  seen  Ireland  reduced  to  misery  and  driven  to 
despair  by  what  they  regard  as  the  unjust  policy  of 
England,  the  Irishmen  of  America  use  their  suffrage  as 
though  they  were  the  agents  and  servants  of  the  English 
Tories.  The  Free-traders  of  England  desire  nothing  so 
much  as  the  defeat  of  Garfield  and  the  election  of  Han 
cock.  They  wish  to  break  down  the  protective  tariff 
and  cripple  our  manufacturers,  and  nine-tenths  of  the 
Irish  voters  in  this  country  respond  with  alacrity,  '  Yes, 
we  will  do  your  bidding,  and  vote  to  please  you,  even 
though  it  reduce  our  own  wages,  and  take  the  bread 
from  the  mouths  of  our  children.' 


THE    IRISH-AMERICAN    QUESTION.  223 

"  There  are  many  able  men.  and  many  clever  writers 
among  the  Irish  in  America,  but  I  have  never  met  any 
one  of  them  able  enough  or  clever  enough  to  explain  this 
anomaly  on  any  basis  of  logic  and  good  sense. 

"  I  am  glad  to  see,  from  your  esteemed  favor,  that  the 
subject  is  beginning  to  trouble  you.  The  more  you  think 
of  it  the  more  you  will  be  troubled,  I  am  sure.  And  you 
will  be  driven  finally  to  the  conclusion  that  the  prosperity 
of  the  Irish  in  this  country  depends  as  largely  as  that  of 
any  other  class  upon  the  maintenance  of  the  financial  and 
industrial  policy  represented  by  the  Republican  party. 
"  Very  truly  yours, 

"  JAMES  G.  ELAINE." 

Mr.  Elaine  can  only  increase  in  reputation  and 
popularity  by  an  examination  of  his  course  toward 
his  fellow  citizens  of  Germanic  blood,  and  their 
kinsmen  still  in  the  Fatherland.  It  has  been 
marked  by  consistent  justice,  kindliness  and 
mutual  regard.  Thus  he  spoke  from  his  heart 
when  it  became  his  agreeable  duty  to  extend  to 
certain  distinguished  Germans  the  hospitality  of 
the  Republic  on  a  well-remembered  occasion.  It 
would  be  unfair  to  alter  or  curtail  his  own  words 
in  this  instance,  and  his  letter  of  invitation  is 
accordingly  appended.  It  was  addressed  to  Mr. 
Andrew  D.  White,  then  U.  S.  Minister  to  Ger 
many  : 

"  DEPARTMENT  OF  STATE, 
"  Washington,  July  30,  1881. 

"  SIR: — During  the  darkest  period  of  the  Revolution 
ary  War,  a  German  soldier  of  character  and  distinction 


2 "4  LIFE    OF   JAMES    G.  BLAINE. 

tendered  his  sword  in  aid  of  American  Independence. 
Frederick    William    Augustus,    Baron    Steuben,   joined 
Washington  at  Valley  Forge,  in  the  memorable  and  dis 
astrous  winter  of  1778.     He  attested  the  sincerity  of  his 
attachment  to  the  patriot  cause  by  espousing  it  when  its 
fortunes  were  adverse,  its  prospects  gloomy,  and  its  hopes, 
but  for  the  intense  zeal  of  the  people,  well-nigh  crushed. 
"  The  Baron  Steuben  was  received  by  Washington  with 
the   most  cordial  welcome,  and  immediately  placed  on 
duty  as  inspector-general  of  the  army.      A  detailed  nis- 
tory  of   his  military  career  in  America  would  form  an 
epitome   of  the  revolutionary  struggle.     He  had  served 
in  the  Seven  Years'  War  on  the  staff  of  the  great  Fred 
erick,  and  had  acquired  in  the  campaigns  of  that  master 
of  military  science  the  skill  and  the  experience  so  much 
needed  by  the  untrained  soldiers  of  the  Continental  army. 
The  drill  and  discipline  and  effective  organization  which, 
under  the  commanding  patronage  of  Washington,  were 
at  once  imparted  to  the  American  army  by  the  zeal  and 
diligence  of  Steuben,  transformed  the  volunteers  and  raw 
levies  into  veterans,  who  successfully  met  the   British 
regulars  in  all.  the  campaigns  of  that  prolonged  struggle. 

"  The  final  surrender  of  the  British  army  under  Lord 
Cornwallis  occurred  at  Yorktown,  Va.,  on  the  iQth  day 
of  October,  1781.  Baron  Steuben  bore  a  most  conspic 
uous  part  in  the  arduous  campaign  which  ended  so  aus 
piciously  for  the  Continental  army,  and  it  fell  to  his  lot 
to  receive  the  first  official  notification  of  the  proposed 
capitulation,  and  to  bear  it  to  the  illustrious  commander- 
in-chief. 

"  The  centennial  of  that  great  event  in  American  his 
tory  is  to  be  celebrated  with  appropriate  observances  and 
ceremonies  on  the  approaching  anniversary.  I  am 


THE    GERMAN    QUESTION  225 

directed  by  the  President  to  tender,  through  you,  an  invi 
tation  to  the  representatives  of  Baron  Steuben's  family  in 
Germany,  to  attend  the  celebration  as  guests  of  the  Gov 
ernment  of  the  United  States.  You  will  communicate 
the  invitation  through  the  imperial  minister  of  foreign 
affairs,  and  will  express  to  him  the  very  earnest  desire  of 
this  government  that  it  shall  be  accepted. 

"  Those  who  come  as  the  representatives  of  Baron  Steu 
ben's  family  will  be  assured,  in  our  day  of  peace  and 
prosperity,  of  as  warm  a  welcome  as  was  given  to  their 
illustrious  kinsman  in  the  dark  days  of  adversity  and 
war.  They  will  be  the  honored  guests  of  fifty  millions 
of  Americans,  a  vast  number  of  whom  have  German 
blood  in  their  veins  and  constitute  one  of  the  most 
worthy  and  valuable  elements  that  make  up  the  strength 
of  the  Republic.  Intensely  devoted,  with  patriotic  fidelity 
to  America,  they  yet  retain  and  cherish  and  transmit  the 
most  affectionate  memory  of  fatherland.  To  these  the 
visit  of  Baron  Steuben's  relatives  will  have  something  of 
the  revival  of  family  ties,  while  to  all  Americans,  of  what 
ever  origin,  the  presence  of  German  guests  will  afford 
fitting  opportunity  of  testifying  their  respect  for  that 
great  country,  within  whose  imperial  limits  are  included 
so  much  of  human  grandeur  and  human  progress. 
"  I  am,  sir,  &c., 

"  JAMES  G.  BLAINE." 

Eight  of  the  descendants  of  Baron  Steuben, 
including  the  present  head  of  the  family,  with  the 
consent  and  approval  of  their  Government, 
accepted  this  invitation  in  the  same  spirit  in  which 
it  was  extended.  They  were  so  impressed  with 
the  treatment  they  received,  not  only  from  the 


226  LIFE    OF   JAMES    G.  ELAINE. 

American  Government  and  people  generally,  but 
in  particular  from  Mr.  Blaine,  who  was  specially 
charged  with  their  welfare,  that  they  united  in  a 
report  to  the  German  Government  after  their 
return,  asking  that  their  personal  thanks  to  him 
might  be  supplemented  by  some  official  expres 
sion.  Mr.  Blaine  thereupon  received  portraits  of 
the  Emperor,  the  Crown  Prince  and  Prince  Bis 
marck,  bearing  their  autograph  signatures,  and 
an  autograph  letter  from  the  aged  Emperor,  con 
veying  acknowledgements  of  all  the  courtesies 
shown  and  expressions  of  personal  esteem. 

This  incident  has  not  been  forgotten  by  the 
German  Americans  in  this  country.  After  Mr. 
Blaine's  nomination,  Mr.  William  Mayer,  editor 
and  publisher  of  four  independent  German  news 
papers  in  New  York,  a  morning  and  an  afternoon 
daily,  a  weekly  and  a  Sunday  journal,  all  of  large 
circulation,  was  asked  his  opinion  of  the  candi 
date.  He  replied,  "I  believe  he  is  certain  to  be 
elected.  It  is  quite  true,  that  there  is  some  hesi 
tation  among  Germans,  owing  to  reports  that 
have  been  put  in  circulation  by  his  opponents 
that  he  is  a  German  hater  and  a  temperance 
fanatic.  I  know  Mr.  Blaine  too  well  to  think  for 
a  moment  that  he  is  either.  His  invitation  to  the 
Steuben  family,  and  his  whole  bearing  toward 
them  while  they  were  in  this  country,  are  suffi 
cient  proof  to  me  that  he  is  no  German  hater." 

At  the  same  time,  Mr.   Blaine  did  not  confine 


THE    GERMAN    QUESTION.  227 

himself  to  civilities  .toward  the  Germans,  or  give 
room  for  the  accusation  that  he  sought  the  favor 
of  the  high  rather  than  the  lowly.  He  used  all 
his  influence  with  Germany,  and  strongly  sup 
ported  the  efforts  of  Minister  White,  in  securing 
the  proper  settlement  of  all  matters  of  dispute  in 
regard  to  the  nationality  of  our  adopted  citizens. 
This  was  the  only  serious  question  with  Germany 
during  his  term,  and  his  firmness  contributed  not 
a  little  to  its  satisfactory  adjustment,  especially  in 
regard  to  Germany's  new  territory  in  Alsace- 
Lorraine,  which  was  for  a  time,  claimed  not  to  be 
subject  to  the  naturalization  treatise  made  previ 
ous  to  its  acquisition. 
M 


CHAPTER  XVII 

ENFRANCHISED   OR   DISFRANCHISED. 

WHETHER  the  negro  ever  should  have  been 
enfranchised,  or,  having  received  this  weighty 
honor,  whether  he  should  be  disfranchised,  are 
problems  that  statesmen  and  philanthropists  have 
grappled  with  in  the  by-gone  years,  and  on  it 
they  have  expended  their  best  strength.  L.  Q. 
C.  Lamar,  Wade  Hampton,  Alexander  H.  Steph 
ens,  Wendell  Phillips,  James  A.  Garfield,  Mont 
gomery  Blair,  and  troops  of  other  giants  upon 
either  side  have  done  valiant  service  for  their 
respective  views,  but  none  of  them  has  sounded  a 
clearer  note,  nor  struck  it  more  forcefully  than 
James  G.  Elaine. 

Questions  of  this  character  owe  their  origin  not 
to  any  cooling  of  philanthropic  interest,  not  to 
any  novel  or  radical  views  about  universal  suf 
frage,  but  to  the  fact  that,  in  the  judgment  of 
many  of  those  hitherto  accounted  wisest,  negro 
suffrage  has  failed  to  attain  the  ends  hoped  for 
when  the  franchise  was  conferred  ;  failed  as  a 
means  of  more  completely  securing  the  negro's 
civil  rights  ;  failed  to  bring  him  the  consideration 
which  generally  attaches  to  power  ;  failed,  indeed. 
228 


ENFRANCHISED    OR    DISFRANCHISED.  2 29 

to  achieve  anything  except  to  increase  the  political 
weight  and  influence  of  those  against  whom,  and 
in  spite  of  whom,  his  enfranchisement  was  secured. 
For  these  reasons  it  has  been  thought  that  the 
enfranchisement  of  the  negro  was  premature,  and 
that  even  now  it  needs  modification.  There  are 
not  wanting  those,  too,  who,  on  the  ground  of  the 
alleged  inferiority  of  the  negro,  will  clamor  against 
his  right  of  franchise  as  it  now  exists,  and  would 
strip  him  of  it  wholly.  On  the  situation  as  thus 
outlined,  Mr.  Elaine  has  delivered  himself  as 
follows : 

"First.  The  two  classes  I  have  named,  contem 
plating  the  possible  or  desirable  disfranchisement 
of  the  negro  from  entirely  different  standpoints, 
and  with  entirely  different  aims,  are  both  and 
equally  in  the  wrong.  The  first  is  radically  in 
error  in  supposing  that  a  disfranchisement  of  the 
negro  would  put  him  in  the  way  of  any  develop 
ment  or  progress  that  would  in  time  fit  him  for  the 
suffrage.  He  would  instead  grow  more  and  more 
unfit  for  it  every  day  from  the  time  the  first 
backward  step  should  be  taken,  and  he  would 
relapse,  if  not  into  actual  chattel  slavery,  yet  into 
such  a  dependent  and  defenseless  condition  as 
would  result  in  only  another  form  of  servitude. 
******* 

The  second  class  is  wrong  in  anticipating  even  the 
remote  possibility  of  securing  the  legal  disfran 
chisement  of  the  negro  without  a  reduction  of 


230  LIFE    OF    JAMES    G.  ELAINE. 

representation.     Both  sides  have  fenced  for  posi 
tion  on  this  question.     *     *     * 

"Second.  But,  while  discussing  the  question  of 
the  disfranchisement  of  the  negro,  and  settling  its 
justice  or  expediency  according  to  our  discretion, 
it  may  be  worth  while  to  look  at  its  impractica 
bility,  or,  to  state  it  still  more  strongly,  its  impos 
sibility.  Logicians  attach  weight  to  arguments 
drawn  ab  inconvenienti.  *  *  *  The  negro  is 
secure  against  disfranchisement  by  two  constitu 
tional  amendments,  and  he  can  not  be  remanded 
to  the  non-voting  class  until  both  these  amend 
ments  are  annulled.  And  these  amendments 
can  not  be  annulled  until  two-thirds  of  the  Senate 
and  two-thirds  of  the  House  of  Representatives 
of  the  United  States  shall  propose,  and  a  majority 
in  the  Legislatures  or  conventions  of  twenty-nine 
States  shall,  by  affirmative  vote,  approve  the  annul 
ment.  In  other  words,  the  negro  can  not  be  dis 
franchised  so  long  as  one  vote  more  than  one-third 
in  the  United  States  Senate,  or  one  vote  more 
than  one-third  in  the  House  of  Representatives, 
shall  be  recorded  against  it ;  and  if  these  securi 
ties  and  safeguards  should  give  way,  then  the 
disfranchisement  could  not  be  effected  so  long  as 
a  majority  in  one  branch  in  the  Legislatures  of 
only  ten  States  should  refuse  to  assent  to  it,  and 
refuse  to  assent  to  a  convention  to  which  it  might 
be  referred.  No  human  right  on  this  continent  is 
more  completely  guaranteed  than  the  right  against 


ENFRANCHISED    OR    DISFRARCHISED.  231 

disfranchiscment  on  account  of  race,  color  or  pre 
vious  condition  of  servitude,  as  embodied  in  the 
Fifteenth  Amendment  to  the  Constitution  of  the 
United  States. 

u  Third.  In  enforcement  and  elucidation  of  my 
second  point,  it  is  of  interest  to  observe  the  rapid 
advance  and  development  of  popular  sentiment 
in  regard  to  the  rights  of  the  negro  as  expressed 
in  the  last  three  amendments  to  the  constitution 
of  the  United  States.  In  1 865  Congress  submitted 
the  Thirteenth  Amendment,  which  merely  gave  the 
negro  freedom,  without  suffrage,  civil  rights,  or  citij 
zenship.  In  1 866  the  Fourteenth  Amendment  was 
submitted,  declaring  the  negro  to  be  a  citizen,  but 
not  forbidding  the  States  to  withhold  suffrage  from 
him — yet  inducing  them  to  grant  it  by  the  provi 
sion  that  representation  in  Congress  should  be 
reduced  in  proportion  to  the  exclusion  of  male 
citizens  twenty-one  years  of  age  from  the  right  to 
vote,  except  for  rebellion  or  other  crime.  In  1869 
the  decisive  step  was  taken  of  declaring  that  '  the 
right  of  citizens  of  the  United  States  to  vote  shall 
not  be  abridged  by  the  United  States  or  by 
any  State  on  account  of  race,  color  or  previous 
condition  of  servitude.'  A  most  important  pro 
vision  in  this  amendment  is  the  inhibition  upon 
the  *  United  States  '  as  well  as  upon  '  any  State  ; ' 
for  it  would  not  be  among  the  impossible  results 
of  a  great  political  revolution,  resting  on  preju 
dice  and  grasping  for  power,  that,  in  the  absence 


232  LIFE    OF    JAMES    G.  BLAINE. 

of  this  express  negation,  the  United  States  might 
assume  or  usurp  the  right  to  deprive  the  negro  of 
suffrage,  and  then  the  States  would  not  be  sub 
jected  to  the  forfeiture  of  representation  provided 
in  the  Fourteenth  Amendment  as  the  result  of  the 
denial  or  abridgement  of  suffrage  by  State 
authority.  In  this  stately  progression  of  organic 
enactments  the  will  of  a  great  people  is  embodied, 
and  its  reversal  would  be  one  of  those  revolutions 
which  would  convulse  social  order  and  endanger 
the  authority  of  law.  There  will  be  no  step  back 
ward,  but  under  the  provision  which  specifically 
confers  on  Congress  the  power  to  enforce  each 
amendment  by  ( appropriate  legislation '  there  will 
be  applied  from  time  to  time,  fitfully  perhaps  and 
yet  certainly,  the  restraining  and  correcting  edicts 
of  national  authority. 

"Fourth.  As  I  have  already  hinted,  there  will 
be  no  attempt  made  in  the  Southern  States  to  dis 
franchise  the  negro  by  any  of  those  methods  which 
would  still  be  within  the  power  of  the  State. 
There  is  no  Southern  State  that  would  dare  ven 
ture  on  an  educational  qualification,  because  by 
the  last  census  [1870]  there  were  more  than  one 
million  white  persons  over  fifteen  years  of  age,  in 
the  states  lately  slave-holding,  who  could  not  read 
a  word,  and  a  still  larger  number  who  could  not 
write  their  names.  There  was,  of  courre,  a  still 
greater  number  of  negroes  of  the  same  ages  who 
could  not  read  or  write;  but,  in  the  nine  years 


ENFRANCHISED    OR    DISFRANCHISED.  233 

that  have  intervened  since  the  census  was  taken, 
there  has  been  a  much  greater  advance  in  the  edu 
cation  of  the  negroes  than  in  the  education  of  the 
poor  whites  of  the  South  ;  and  to-day  on  an  edu 
cational  qualification  it  is  quite  probable  that,  while 
the  proportion  would  be  in  favor  of  the  whites, 
the  absolute  exclusion  of  the  whites  in  some  of 
the  States  would  be  nearly  as  great  as  that  of  the 
negroes.  Nor  would  a  property  test  operate  with 
any  greater  advantage  to  the  whites.  The  slave 
States  always  had  a  large  class  of  very  poor  and 
entirely  uneducated  whites,  and  any  qualification 
of  property  that  would  seriously  diminish  the  negro 
vote  would  also  cut  off  a  very  large  number  of 
whites  from  the  suffrage. 

"The  second  interrogatory,  '  Ought  he  to  have 
been  enfranchised?'  is  not  practical  but  spec 
ulative  ;  and  yet,  unless  it  can  be  answered  with 
confidence  in  the  affirmative,  the  moral  tenure  of 
his  suffrage  is  weakened,  and,  as  a  consequence, 
his  legal  right  to  enjoy  it  is  impaired.  For 
myself,  I  answer  the  second  question  in  the  affirm 
ative,  with  as  little  hesitation  as  I  answered  the 
first  in  the  negative.  And,  if  the  question  were 
again  submitted  to  the  judgment  of  Congress,  I 
would  vote  for  suffrage  in  the  light  of  experience 
with  more  confidence  than  I  voted  for  it  in  the 
light  of  an  experiment," 


CHAPTER  XVIII. 

THE  CHINESE  QUESTION. 

WHEN  the  bill  restricting  Chinese  immigration 
was  passed,  Mr.  Elaine  gave  it  his  support.  Mr. 
William  Lloyd  Garrison  followed  this  action  with 
some  severe  strictures  upon  the  course  pursued 
by  those  gentleman  of  the  Senate  who  stood 
with  Mr.  Elaine  in  this  vote.  To  these  reflec 
tions  Mr.  Elaine  replied  in  a  letter  already 
cited  The  document  was  full  and  frank,  and 
its  statements  of  facts  were  fortified  by  testi 
monies  of  the  most  reliable  character.  He  stated 
his  reasons  for  his  personal  action  in  ten  distinct 
propositions.  He  first  contends  that  Chinese 
immigration  is  in  no  true  and  good  sense  immi 
gration  at  all.  Secondly,  that  those  who  come, 
whether  males  or  females,  are  almost  without 
exception,  of  the  lowest  and  vilest  classes.  Thirdly, 
that  those  who  have  come  do  not  assimilate  with 
our  nationalities,  but  in  language,  dress,  customs, 
and  religion,  remain  separate  and  distinct  as  at  the 
very  first  of  their  settlement  on  our  shores.  Their 
squalor  and  filth  also  separate  them  from  all  their 
American  neighbors.  His  fourth  point  touches 
234 


THE    CHINESE    QUESTION.  235 

the  relation  of  Chinese   to  American   labor.     He 
says  : 

"  Is  it  not  inevitable  that  a  class  of  men  living  in 
this  degraded  and  filthy  condition,  and  on  the 
poorest  of  food,  can  work  for  less  than  the  Ameri 
can  laborer  is  entitled  to  receive  for  his  daily  toil  ? 
Put  the  two  classes  of  laborers  side  by  side,  and 
the  cheap  servile  labor  pulls  down  the  more  manly 
toil  to  its  level.  The  free  white  labor  never  could 
compete  with  the  slave  labor  of  the  South.  In  the 
Chinaman  the  white  laborer  finds  only  another 
form  of  servile  competition — in  some  aspects  more 
revolting  and  corrupting  than  African  slavery. 
Whoever  contends  for  the  unrestricted  immigra- 
tion  of  Chinese  coolies  contends  for  that  system 
of  toil  which  blights  the  prospects  of  the  white 
laborer — dooming  him  to  starvation  wages,  killing 
his  ambition  by  rendering  his  struggles  hopeless, 
and  ending  in  a  plodding  and  pitiable  poverty. 

"Nor  is  it  a  truthful  answer  to  say  that  this  dan 
ger  is  remote,  Remote  it  may  be  for  Mr.  Garri- 
ron,  for  Boston,  and  for  New  England,  but  it  is 
instant  and  pressing  on  the  Pacific  Slope. 
Already  the  Chinese  male  adults  on  that  coast  are 
well-nigh  as  numerous  as  the  white  voters  of  Cali 
fornia,  and  it  is  conceded  that  a  Chinese  emigrant 
can  be  placed  in  San  Francisco  for  one-half  the 
amount  required  to  transport  a  man  from  the 
Mississippi  Valley  to  the  Pacific  coast,  and  for 
one-third  what  it  requires  for  a  New  Yorker  or 


236  LIFE    OF    JAMES    G.    ELAINE. 

New  Englander  to  reach  California  or  Oregon. 
The  late  Caleb  Cushing,  who  had  carefully  studied 
the  Chinese  question  ever  since  his  mission  to 
Peking  in  1842,  maintained  that  unless  resisted 
by  the  United  States  the  first  general  famine  in 
China  would  be  followed  by  an  emigration  to  Cali 
fornia  that  would  swamp  the  white  race." 

The  probability  is  great  that  official  endorsement 
would  incalculably  increase  the  immigration  from 
China,  the  population  of  which  is  practically  inex 
haustible.  So  far  as  treaty  obligations  are  con 
cerned,  Mr.  Elaine  holds  that  the  Burlingame 
treaty  did  not  in  any  sense  contemplate  such 
incoming  of  Chinese  as  has  been  realized,  most 
of  it  being  a  forced  departure  to  avoid  punish 
ment  and  penalties,  and  in  no  sense  voluntary, 
and  much  of  the  remainder  being  from  the  pauper 
coolie  class,  which  is  never  to  be  'desired  as  an 
element  of  population  in  this  or  any  civilized 
land. 

"  A  great  deal,"  continues  Mr.  Elaine,  "  has 
been  said  about  the  danger  to  our  trade  if  China 
should  resort  to  some  form  of  retaliation.  The 
natural  and  pertinent  retaliation  is  to  restrict 
American  immigration  to  China.  Against  that 
we  will  enter  no  protest,  and  should  have  no  right 
to  do  so.  The  talk  about  China  closing  her  ports 
to  our  trade  is  made  only  by  those  who  do  not 
understand  the  question.  Last  year  the  total 
amount  of  our  exports  to  all  Chinese  ports,  outside 


THE    CHINESE    QUESTION.      -  237 

of  Hong  Kong,  was  but  $692,000.  I  have  called 
Hong  Kong  a  Chinese  port,  but  every  child 
knows  that  it  is  under  British  control,  and  if  we 
were  at  war  with  China  to-day  Hong  Kong  would 
be  as  open  to  us  as  Liverpool.  To  speak  of 
China  punishing  us  by  suspending  trade  is  only 
the  suggestion  of  dense  ignorance.  We  pay 
China  an  immense  balance  in  coin,  and  probably 
we  always  shall  do  it.  But  if  the  trade  question 
had  the  importance  which  some  have  erroneously 
attributed  to  it,  I  would  not  seek  its  continuance 
by  permitting  a  vicious  immigration  of  Chinese 
coolies.  The  Bristol  merchants  cried  out  that 
commerce  would  be  ruined  if  England  persisted 
in  destroying  the  slave  trade.  But  history  does 
not  record  that  England  sacrificed  her  honor  by 
yielding  to  the  cry," 

Returning  again  to  the  relation  of  this  subject 
to  the  labor  question,  Mr.  Blaine  says  :  "  There 
is  not  a  laboring  man  from  the  Penobscot  to  the 
Sacramento  who  would  not  feel  aggrieved,  out 
raged,  burdened,  crushed,  by  being  forced  into 
competition  with  the  labor  and  the  wages  of  the 
Chinese  coolie.  For  one  I  will  never  consent  by 
my  vote  or  my  voice  to  drive  the  intelligent  work- 
ingmen  of  America  to  that  competition  and  that 
degradation." 


CHAPTER  XIX. 

AMERICAN    SHIP-BUILDING   AND    COMMERCE. 

How  earnestly  Mr.  Elaine  pleaded  for  the  revi 
val  of  American  ship-building  and  commerce  was 
shown  briefly  in  the  chapter  presenting  him  as 
an  American  of  the  Americans.  This  vital  sub 
ject  is  very  dear  to  his  heart,  and  his  eloquent 
tongue  has  often  plead  for  it.  In  January,  1881, 
he  replied  to  Senator  Beck,  of  Kentucky,  who  had 
made  a  speech  in  favor  of  admitting  free  of  duty 
foreign  ships  built  to  American  Registers.  This 
reply  was  made  on  the  spot  and  without  specific 
preparation  or  data,  except  such  as  memory 
recalled  at  the  moment.  Having  referred  to  the 
concession  of  Senator  Beck,  that  his  proposal  did 
look  toward  a  permanent  dependence  upon  Eng 
land  for  our  ships,  Mr.  Blaine  continued  : 

"  It  is  a  fact  equally  remarkable  that  for  the 
past  twenty-five  years — or  make  it  only  for  the 
past  twenty  years,  from  the  beginning  of  the  war 
to  this  hour,  the  Congress  of  the  United  States 
has  not  done  one  solitary  thing  to  uphold  the  navi 
gation  interests  of  the  United  States.  Decay  has 
been  observed  going  on  steadily  from  year  to 
year.  The  great  march  forward  of  our  commer- 
23* 


AMERICAN    SHIP-BUILDING    AND    COMMERCE.    239 

cial  rival  of  old  has  been  witnessed  and  every 
where  recognized,  and  the  representatives  of  the 
people  of  the  United  States  have  sat  in  their  two 
houses  of  legislation  as  dumb  as  though  they 
could  not  speak,  and  have  not  offered  a  single 
remedy  or  a  single  aid.  And  this  has  gone  on 
until  now  the  Senator  from  Kentucky  rises  in  his 
seat  and  proposes  to  make  a  proclamation  of  per 
petual  future  dependence  of  this  country  upon 
England  for  such  commerce  as  she  may  enjoy, 
holding  up  as  models  to  us  Germany,  Italy,  and 
the  other  European  countries  that  are  as  abso 
lutely  dependent  upon  Great  Britain  for  what 
commerce  they  enjoy  as  the  District  of  Columbia 
is  for  its  legislation  upon  the  Congress  of  the 
United  States. 

"  During  these  years,  in  which  Congress  has 
not  stepped  forward  to  do  one  thing  for  the  for 
eign  commerce  of  this  country,  for  all  that  vast 
external  transportation  whose  importance  the  Sen 
ator  from  Kentucky  has  not  exaggerated,  but  has 
strongly  depicted,  the  same  Congress  has  passed 
ninety-two  acts  in  aid  of  internal  transportation 
by  rail  ;  has  given  200,000,000  acres  of  the  pub 
lic  lands,  worth  to-day  a  thousand  million  dollars 
in  money,  and  has  added  $70,000,000  in  cash, 
and  yet,  I  repeat,  it  has  extended  the  aid  of 
scarcely  a  single  dolla~  to  build  up  our  foreign 
commerce. 


240  LIFE    OF   JAMES    G.  BLAINE 

"  Mr.  President,  fas  est  ab  hoste  doceri ;  it  is 
always  lawful  to  be  taught  by  an  enemy.  Great 
Britain  has  been  our  great  commercial  rival,  and 
since  the  first  Cunard  steamship  came  into  Boston, 
just  about  forty  years  ago,  when  Great  Britain,  see 
ing  that  steam  was  to  play  so  great  and  command 
ing  a  part  in  the  navigation  of  the  world  first  made 
her  venture,  from  that  time  down  to  the  close  of 
1878,  she  had  paid  from  her  treasury,  to  aid  great 
steamship  lines  all  over  the  world,  a  sum  exceed 
ing  forty  million  pounds  sterling,  more  than  two 
hundred  millions  of  American  dollars.  I  know  it 
is  a  favorite  argument  with  those  who  occupy  the 
position  of  the  honorable  Senator  from  Kentucky 
that  Great  Britain  started  upon  this  plan  and  fol 
lowed  it  for  a  long  period  of  years,  and  afterward 
abandoned  it.  Sir,  she  has  never  abandoned  it. 
She  has  only  abandoned  its  extension  to  those 
lines  that  were  strong  enough  to  go  alone,  and 
the  British  post-office  report  for  the  year  1879 
shows  that  under  the  despised  and  ridiculed  head 
of  postal  aid,  to  which  the  honorable  Senator 
from  Kentucky  was  pleased  to  refer  with  such 
sneers,  Great  Britain  paid  last  year  ,£783,000, 
well-nigh  four  million  dollars  in  coin. 

"  France  gets  her  steamships  from  England. 
France  has  adopted  the  commercial  policy  which 
the  honorable  Senator  from  Kentucky  thinks 
would  be  the  revival  of  the  American  shipping 
interest ;  but  does  France,  by  the  mere  fact  of  get- 


AMERICAN    SHIP-BUILDING    AND    COMMERCE.    24! 

ting  her  ships  built  at  Birkenhead,  or  on  the  Clyde, 
abandon  the  plan,  which  has  been  for  thirty  years 
in  operation  under  her  government,  of  aiding  her 
ships  ?  Why,  sir,  last  year  France  paid  23,000,000 
francs — more  than  four  and  a  half  million  dollars — 
to  aid  her  steamship  lines.  And  when  the  celebrated 
line  of  France,  the  company  known  as  Messageries 
Imperiale,  competed  too  sharply  in  the  Mediter 
ranean  waters  after  the  opening  of  the  Suez 
Canal,  when  that  great  French  company  competed 
with  the  Peninsular  and  Oriental  Company  of 
England,  and  was  likely  to  endanger  its  supremacy 
by  a  sharp  rivalry,  Great  Britain  promptly  stepped 
forward  and  added  ,£100,000  to  the  Peninsular 
and  Oriental  subsidy.  That  is  the  way  Great 
Britain  has  abandoned  the  idea  of  aiding  her 
great  commercial  interests  ! 

"  Italy,  that  is  hemmed  in  upon  a  lake,  with  a 
territory  that  does  not  touch  either  of  the  great 
oceans,  is  running  np  largely  in  steam-navigation  ; 
Italy  last  year  paid  8,000,000  francs  ;  and  even 
Austria,  that  enjoys  but  a  single  seaport  on  the 
upper  end  of  the  Adriatic,  pays  $500,000  toward 
stimulating  commercial  ventures  from  Trieste. 
Now,  the  United  States  cannot  succeed  in  this 
great  international  struggle  without  adopting 
exactly  the  same  mode  that  has  achieved  victory 
for  France.  What  is  it  ?  It  is  not  to  help  A  B  or 
C  D  or  E  F  or  anybody  else  by  name,  neither 
Mr.  John  Roach,  nor  Mr.  John  Doe,  nor  Mr. 


242  LIFE    OF   JAMES    G.  ELAINE. 

Richard  Roe,  but  to  make  a  great  ana  compre 
hensive  policy  that  shall  give  to  every  company  a 
pledge  of  aid  from  the  Government  of  so  much 
per  mile  for  such  a  term  of  years.  Let  the  Amer 
ican  merchants  feel  that  the  Government  of  the 
United  States  is  behind  them.  Let  the  United 
States  take  from  her  Treasury  per  annum  the 
$4,000,000  that  Great  Britain  is  paying  as  a  post 
script  to  her  $200,000,000  of  investment  ;  let  the 
United  States  but  take  $400,000  per  annum — 
and  that  is  not  a  great  sum  for  this  opulent  coun 
try — let  that  be  used  as  a  fund  to  stimulate  any 
company  from  any  port  of  the  United  States  to 
any  foreign  port,  and,  without  being  a  prophet  or 
the  son  of  one,  I  venture  to  predict  that  you  will 
see  that  long-deferred,  much-desired  event,  the 
revival  of  the  American  merchant  marine." 

Mr.  Elaine  followed  by  urging  that  our  costly 
and  useless  Navy  Yard  system  be  abolished  in 
the  main,  and  its  cost  be  devoted  to  the  promo 
tion  of  American  shipping.  After  further  illus 
tration  of  his  subject,  he  finally  said  : 

"It  is  idle  to  fight  against  the  inventions  of  the 
world  ;  it  is  idle  for  us  to  fold  our  arms  and 
suppose  that  wooden  vessels  are  to  maintain  any 
thing  like  the  importance  they  have  hitherto  had 
in  the  commerce  of  the  world.  I  think  I  under 
stand  something  of  that  subject.  I  have  the 
honor  to  be  from  the  state  that  has  built  more 
wooden  vessels  than  all  the  rest  of  this  Union 


AMERICAN    SHIP-BUILDING    AND   COMMERCE.    243 

beside,  I  believe.  Within  thirty  miles  of  my  own 
residence  is  a  town  of  only  ten  thousand  people, 
which  is  the  largest  wooden  ship-building  place 
on  the  globe  to-day.  I  know  some  little  of  that 
subject ;  and  while  the  days  of  wooden-ships  are 
by  no  means  over,  while  they  will  be  a  great  and 
needful  auxiliary  in  the  commence  of  the  world, 
yet  it  is  manifest  and  is  proven  that  the  great 
highways  of  international  commerce,  such  as  the 
North  Atlantic,  the  West  India  seas,  the  route 
from  San  Francisco  to  Asia,  that  from  San  Fran 
cisco  to  Melborne,  and  in  various  and  sundry  and 
divers  other  directions,  will  be  occupied,  and 
occupied  almost  to  the  exclusion  of  sailing-vessels, 
by  the  ocean  steamers.  The  United  States  can 
take  a  great  part  in  that  race  ;  they  can  take  a 
great  part  in  it  just  whenever  they  make  up  their 
mind  that  the  instrumentality  by  which  England 
conquered  is  the  one  one  which  we  must  use  ; 
they  can  take  it  whenever  they  make  up  their 
minds  that  a  mercantile  marine  and  naval  estab 
lishment  must  grow  and  go  together  hand  in  hand, 
and  that  the  Congress  of  the  United  States  is 
derelict  in  its  duty  if  it  passes  another  naval 
appropriation  bill  without  accompanying  it  in 
some  form  with  some  wise  and  forecasting 
provision  looking  also  to  the  upbuilding  of  the 
American  merchant  marine." 

Two  years  previous  to  the  discussion  described 
above,  Mr.  Elaine  put  himself  very  decisively  on 

15 


244  LIFE    OF   JAMES    G.  ELAINE. 

record  in  an  extended  speech  in  the  Senate  favor 
ing  a  reduction  of  the  Navy  and  encouraging 
American  shipping.  He  had  presented  two 
amendments,  one  looking  to  a  reduction  in  the 
number  of  Navy  officers  to  the  lowest  point  con 
sistent  with  the  authorized  size  of  the  Navy,  and 
also  to  the  reduction  of  the  number  of  our  navy 
yards,  provided  that  the  efficiency  of  the  naval 
establishment  of  the  country  should  not  thereby 
be  impaired.  The  other  amendment  provided 
that  appointments  to  the  rank  of  midshipman,  from 
graduates  of  the  United  States  Naval  Academy, 
should  be  made  only  as  vacancies  occurred,  and 
only  on  the  basis  of  their  standing  at  graduation. 

The  speech  reviewed  exhaustively  the  facts  con 
cerning  our  navy  and  navy  yards  as  then  existing, 
comparing  them  with  the  establishments  of  other 
great  naval  powers,  and  showing  the  disadvan 
tage  against  our  methods.  Having  shown  the 
good  ground  presumably  existing  in  favor  of 
retrenchment  in  the  navy,  Mn  Elaine  addressed 
himself  to  its  allied  topic,  the  development  of  the 
American  mercantile  marine.  He  said  : 

''Three-fourths,  I  do  not  know  but  I  may  over 
state  it,  but  certainly  one-half  the  report  of  the 
Secretary  of  the  Navy  is  devoted  to  the  commerce 
of  the  country,  and  a  very  able  report  it  is.  It 
does  him  honor.  I  certainly  am  not  out  of  order 
in  discussing  on  the  naval  bill  that  to  which  the 

o 

head  of  the  department  himself  devotes  so  large 


AMERICAN    SHIP-BUILDING    AND   COMMERCE.    245 

a  portion  of  his  report.  I  say  again,  that  what 
may  be  saved  out  of  the  naval  appropriation  will 
do  that  which  I  have  already  adverted  to  for 
American  commerce.  We  do  not  show  any  of 
this,  can  I  call  it  stinginess,  in  any  other  depart 
ment.  We  have  given  200,000,000  acres  of 
public  land  to  railroads  ;  we  have  now  given 
$60,000,000  in  money  ;  and  taking  the  value 
of  those  lands  and  the  value  of  that  money,  and 
adding  them  together,  it  is  safe  to  say  that  we 
have  endowed  railroads  in  this  country  with 
$500,000,000. 

"  From  1846  to  1871  the  Congress  of  the  United 
States  passed  ninety-one  acts  for  promoting  the 
building  of  railroads.  There  has  not  been  much 
legislation  since  1871.  There  has  been  a  reaction 
against  the  policy,  but  from  1846  to  1871,  I 
repeat,  a  period  of  twenty-five  years,  the  Congress 
of  the  United  States  passed  ninety-one  different 
acts,  and  endowed  the  railroad  system  of  this 
country  with  $500,000,000  of  money,  and  that 
$500,000,000  of  money  produced  more  than 
$5,000,000,000  of  money  in  this  country.  My 
judgment  is  that  the  Congress  of  the  United 
States  in  everything  they  did  in  that  respect  did 
wisely.  They  cheapened  freights.  Clinton's 
ditch,  as  it  used  to  be  called,  was  sneered  at  when 
it  was  an  experiment,  but  the  minute  the  water 
was  let  into  it  it  reduced  the  freights  that  had  been 
$100  from  Buffalo  to  New  York  down  to  $7  a  ton  ; 


246  LIFE    OF    JAMES    G.    ELAINE. 

and  it  is  not  an  exaggeration  to  say  that  at  that 
day,  before  railroads  were  among  us,  the  water 
that  was  let  in  from  Lake  Erie  to  that  canal  added 
$100,000,000  to  the  value  of  the  farms  west  of  it. 
"  As  individuals,  cities,  towns,  counties,  states, 

» 

a  nation,  we  have  exerted  ourselves  to  the  utmost 
point  of  enterpise  and  Vigor  to  build  up  railroads. 
We  have  a  system  that  outruns  all  the  world,  and 
with  great  trunk  lines  threading  the  continent, 
north,  south,  east  and  west,  in  every  direction. 
The  very  moment  we  reach  the  ocean  limit,  we 
seem  to  think  we  have  done  our  duty,  and  that 
when  we  have  got  transportation  to  that  point  it 
no  longer  interests  us,  and  we  can  safely  give  that 
over  to  the  foreigner.  Why,  from  Chicago  to 
Liverpool  is  one  direct  line.  I  wonder  how  it 
would  sound  if  Mr.  Vanderbilt,  who  is  running  a 
line  of  steamships  manned  by  foreign  men,  com 
manded  by  foreign  officers,-  built  in  foreign  yards, 
whose  money  earnings  go  entirely  outside  of  this 
country,  were  to  apply  that  to  the  New  York 
Central  Railroad,  and  select  all  the  brakemen  and 
switchmen  and  conductors  and  tenders  and 
officers  on  the  Central  Railroad  from  foreigners  ; 
to  put  on  it  locomotives  that  are  all  made  in 
England  ;  to  let  all  its  earnings  be  exported. 
Such  a  policy  would  not  be  one  particle  more  det 
rimental  and  destructive  to  the  interests  of  this 
country  than  for  us  when  that  Central  Railroad 
had  touched  salt  water  with  all  the  countless  pro- 


AMERICAN    SHIP-BUILDING    AND    COMMERCE.    247 

ducts  of  the  fertile  West  to  give  up  all  the  profits 
of  participation  in  the  transportation  of  them 
beyond.  From  Chicago  to  Liverpool  is  a  route 
of  four  thousand  miles.  We  operate  one  thous 
and  miles  of  it  and  give  three  thousand  miles  to 
the  foreigner. 

##  ####:!: 

"  Mr.  President,  I  will  state  my  views  on  this 
subject,  and  I  shall  take  the  privilege  of  bringing 
the  Senate  to  some  vote  that  will  test  its  sense  on 
that  question.  My  idea  is  that  the  Government 
of  the  United  States  should  give  to  any  man  or 
company  of  men  aid  from  the  treasury  of  the 
United  States  if  he  or  they  shall  establish  and 
maintain  a  line  of  steamships  to  any  foreign  port, 
or  I  might  limit  it  to  European,  South  American, 
and  Asiatic  ports.  I  would  invite  competition 
from  San  Francisco,  from  Portland,  Oregon,  from 
Galveston,  from  New  Orleans,  from  Mobile,  from 
Savannah,  Charleston,  Wilmington,  Norfolk,  Bal 
timore,  New  York,  Boston,  Portland,  and  every 
where.  I  would  let  all  come  in  who  can  sustain 
it.  The  touchstone  is  what  will  be  sustained  by 
the  trade,  and  that  you  can  safely  leave  to  the 
instinct  and  to  the  knowledge  of  American  com 
mercial  men." 


CHAPTER  XX. 

MUNICIPAL    DEBT. 

IN  an  address  upon  Municipal  Debt,  Mr.  Elaine 
reviewed  the  history  of  these  encumbrances,  in  all 
lands,  and  then  spoke  of  the  debts  incurred  by 
nations,  states,  counties,  and  cities  or  towns.  These 
forms  of  public  debts,  he  pronounced  a  ''quadru 
plicate  burden"  to  carry  which  every  man  and 
every  piece  of  property,  in  some  way  must  con 
tribute  its  share.  "  When  the  city  is  pledging  its 
credit,"  said  Mr.  Elaine,  "it  seems  to  forget  that 
a  heavy  debt  is  already  upon  the  county  of  which 
it  forms  an  integral  part  ;  the  county  freely  incurs 
debt  without  apparently  remembering  that  every 
estate  in  it  is  already  encumbered  by  a  direct  tax 
to  pay  the  interest  on  a  debt  of  the  State  ;  and 
the  State  too  often  makes  lavish  use  of  its  credit 
without  pausing  to  reflect  that  every  one  of  its 
citizens  is  already  burdened  by  the  tax  which  he 
is  paying  to  liquidate  the  debt  of  the  nation.  And 
when  in  the  end  nation,  and  State,  and  county, 
and  city  have  each  and  all  imposed  their  burdens, 
the  citizen  finds  that  while  the  tax  is  increased 
fourfold,  the  property  to  meet  it  has  not  expe- 
248 


MUNICIPAL    DEBT.  249 

rienced  a  similar  development  and  growth."  This 
power  of  indefinitely  contracting  municipal  debt, 
was  amply  illustrated,  and  its  folly  scattingly  ex 
posed  as  the  orator  proceeded. 

In  approaching  the  practical  conclusions  of  this 
whole  matter,  the  distinguished  speaker  said : 

"In  regard  to  the  aggregate  Municipal  debt  of 
the  country,  it  is  not  of  course  to  be  inferred  that 
it  could  all  have  been  wisely  avoided.  Credit,  pru 
dently  used  and  safely  guarded,  is  one  of  the  great 
engines  of  modern  civilization  and  advancement, 
and  with  Municipal  Governments  its  uses  at  times 
seems  imperatively  demanded.  In  many  cases 
the  public  health  has  required  that  debt  be  con 
tracted  for  supplies  of  pure  water  and  for  systems 
of  drainage  and  sewerage,  and  occasionally  for 
other  forms  of  public  improvement  essential  to  the 
growth  of  the  community.  But  in  the  main,  I 
think  our  cities  have  been  too  ready  to  draw  on 
the  future,  to  ready  to  pledge  the  '  lives  and  for 
tunes  '  of  posterity  to  the  payment  of  a  debt  which 
the  generation  contracting  it  is  unable  to  dis 
charge.  Expensive  Municipal  buildings,  loan  of 
credit  to  outside  enterprises,  not  needed  and  often 
visionary,  have  led  in  some  large  cities  to  a  growth 
of  debt  for  which  there  is  no  corresponding  return 
of  pecuniary  profit,  and  no  adequate  advantage 
in  any  form.  It  is  so  easy  to  obtain  Legislative 
authority  to  contract  debts  ;  it  is  so  easy  to  sell  a 
good  city  bond  to  the  capitalist  who  highly  prizes 


250  LIFE    OF   JAMES    G.  ELAINE. 

such  forms  of  security  ;  it  is  so  easy  to  roll  up  a 
debt  to  be  taken  care  of  by  those  who  come  after 
us,  instead  of  levying  a  severe  tax  to  be  paid  by 
ourselves  ;  in  short,  it  is  so  easy  and,  alas !  so  nat 
ural  to  have  a  smooth,  enjoyable  time  to-day, 
thinking  little  of  the  ills  that  may  overtake  us  on 
the  morrow." 

The  influences  of  such  debts  in  diverting  capi 
tal  which  might  otherwise  be  actively  employed 
and  in  unreasonably  advancing  the  rate  of  interest 
were  next  discussed,  and  thus  the  way  was  pre 
pared  for  the  question,  what  is  the  remedy  ?  To 
this  query  Mr.  Elaine  gave  answer  as  follows : 
"  First  and  foremost,  an  awakened,  active,  well- 
balanced  public  judgment,  which  will  suggest, 
demand  and  enforce  a  wise  caution  and  conserva 
tive  course  on  this  subject.  I  have  no  patent 
remedy  to  propose,  and  yet  I  venture  to  suggest 
that  the  Legislatures  of  many  States  have  alto 
gether  too  large  a  power  to  create  debt  without 
referring  the  subject  to  the  people  for  their  pri 
mary  consideration.  Perhaps  I  may  entertain  a 
pre-judgment  on  this  particular  phase  of  the  ques 
tion  in  favor  of  the  stringent  provision  in  the  Con 
stitution  of  my  own  State,  where  the  Legislature 
has  no  power  to  incur  a  dollar's  debt  except  for 
war  purposes,  under  the  pressure  of  actual  dan 
ger,  and  where  an  amendment  to  the  Constitution 
proposed  by  two-thirds  of  the  Legislature  and 
then  submitted  to  a  vote  of  the  people,  is  a  pre- 


MUNICIPAL    DEBT.  2^1 

requisite  for  pledging  the  credit  of  the  State  for 
any  other  purpose  whatever. 

"  It  might  also  be  a  wise  and  salutary  provision 
to  define  in  State  Constitutions  the  precise  ends 
for  which  municipal  credit  should  be  used — limit 
ing  those  uses  to  proper  and  restricted  objects, 
and  forbidding  in  any  event  the  creation  of  a  debt 
beyond  a  specified  per  centage  of  the  official 
valuation  of  the  city  or  town  ;  providing  at  the 
same  time  a  judicious  safeguard  against  the  over 
lapping  of  county  debts,  so  that  while  the  town 
was  guarding  its  credit  with  care  it  should  not  be 
involved  in  the  embarrassment  caused  by  an 
extravagant  extension  of  the  credit  of  the  county. 

"  And  finally,  as  a  governing  principle,  it  would 
be  well  to  apply  to  all  State,  county  and  municipal 
debts,  the  wise  precaution  contained  in  that  famous 
and  well-remembered  rule  laid  down  by  Mr. 
Jefferson  as  the  basis  of  all  sound  national  credit: 

"  '  Never  consent  to  borrow  a  dollar  without 
laying  a  tax  at  the  same  instant,  for  paying  the 
interest  annually,  and  the  principal  within  a  given 
term  ;  and  consider  that  tax  as  pledged  to  the 
creditors  on  the  public  faith.  On  such  a  pledge 
as  this,  sacredly  observed,  a  government  may 
always  command,  on  a  reasonable  interest,  all  the 
lendable  money  of  its  citizens  ;  whilst  the  necessity 
of  an  equivalent  tax  is  a  salutary  warning  to  them 
and  their  constituents  against  oppression,  bank 
ruptcy,  and  its  inevitable  result,  revolution." 


CHAPTER  XXI. 

IRREDEEMABLE    PAPER   CURRENCY. 

ON  the  money  question  Mr.  Elaine  stands 
among  the  soundest  and  most  advanced  financiers, 
and  has  always  stood  there.  In  addition  to  illustra 
tions  already  given  of  this  fact  some  points  may 
be  cited  from  his  speech  on  this,  subject,  which 
was  delivered  in  the  House  of  Representatives, 
February  loth,  1876,  a  date  prior  to  the  resump 
tion  of  specie  payment  in  our  land.  The  financial 
situation  of  the  day  was  thus  stated  in  the  open 
ing  paragraph  of  the  speech  :  "  For  more  than 
two  years  the  country  has  been  suffering  from 
prostration  in  business  ;  confidence  returns  but 
slowly  ;  trade  revives  only  partially  ;  and  to-day, 
with  capital  unproductice  and  labor  unemployed, 
we  find  ourselves  in  the  midst  of  an  agitation 
respecting  the  medium  with  which  business  trans 
actions  shall  be  carried  on.  Until  this  question  is 
definitely  adjusted  it  is  idle  to  expect  that  full 
measure  of  prosperity  to  which  the  energies  of 
our  people  and  the  resources  of  the  land  entitle 
us. 

"If,"  said  Mr.  Elaine  as  he  proceeded  on   this 

topic,    "  there  was  any  one    principle    that   was 
252 


IRREDEEMABLE    PAPER    CURRENCY.  253 

rooted  and  grounded  in  the  minds  of  our  earlier 
statesmen,  it  was  the  evil  of  paper-money  ;  and 
no  candid  man  of  any  party  can  read  the  Consti 
tution  of  the  United  States  and  not  be  convinced 
that  its  formers  intended  to  protect  and  defend 
our  people  from  the  manifold  perils  of  an 
irredeemable  currency.  Nathaniel  Macon,  one  of 
the  purest  and  best  of  American  statesman,  him 
self  a  soldier  of  the  Revolution  and  a  member  of 
Congress  continuously  during  the  administration 
of  our  first  six  Presidents,  embracing  in  all  a 
period  of  nearly  forty  years,  expressed  the  whole 
truth  when  he  declared  in  the  Senate  that  *  this 
was  a  hard-money  government,  founded  by  hard- 
money  men,  who  had  themselves  seen  and  felt  the 
evil  of  paper-money  and  meant  to  save  their 
posterity  from  it.' 

"  To  this  uniform  adherence  to  the  specie 
standard  the  crisis  of  the  Rebellion  forced  an 
exception.  In  January,  1862,  with  more  than  half 
a  million  of  men  in  arms,  with  a  daily  expenditure 
of  nearly  two  millions  of  dollars,  the  Government 
suddenly  found  itself  without  money.  Customs 
yielded  but  little,  internal  taxes  had  not  yet  been 
levied,  public  credit  was  feeble,  if  not  paralyzed, 
our  armies  had  met  with  one  signal  reverse  and 
nowhere  with  marked  success,  and  men's  minds 
were  filled  with  gloom  and  apprehension.  The 
one  supreme  need  of  the  hour  was  money,  and 
money  the  Government  did  not  have,  What, 


254  LIFE    OF   JAMES    G.    ELAINE. 

then,  should  be  done — rather,  what  could  be 
done  ?  The  ordinary  Treasury  note  had  been 
tried  and  failed,  and  those  already  issued  were 
discredited  and  below  the  value  of  the  bills  of 
country  banks.  The  Government  in  this  great 
and  perilous  need  promptly  called  to  its  aid  a 
power  never  before  exercised.  It  authorized  the 
issue  of  one  hundred  and  fifty  millions  of  notes, 
and  declared  them  to  be  a  legal  tender  for  all 
debts,  public  and  private,  with  two  exceptions. 

"The  ablest  lawyers  who  sustained  this  measure 
did  not  find  warrant  for  it  in  the  text  of  the  Con 
stitution,  but  like  the  late  Senator  Fessenden,  of 
my  own  State,  placed  it  on  the  ground  of  'abso 
lute,  overwhelming  necessity  ; '  and  that  illustri 
ous  Senator  declared  that,  'the  necessity  existing, 
he  had  no  hesitation.'  Indeed,  sir,  to  hesitate 
was  to  be  lost,  for  the  danger  was  that,  if  Con 
gress  prolonged  the  debate  on  points  of  constitu 
tional  construction,  its  deliberation  might  be 
interrupted  by  the  sound  of  artillery  on  the  oppo 
site  shore  of  the  Potomac.  The  Republican 
Senators  and  representatives,  therefore,  dismiss 
ing  all  doubts  and  casuistry,  stood  together  for 
the  country." 


CHAPTER  XXII. 

PURITY    OF   THE    BALLOT-BOX. 

ON  December  nth,  1878,  Mr.  Elaine  delivered 
one  of  his  most  effective  speeches.  A  resolution 
introduced  by  himself  was  then  pending.  It  pro 
vided  for  inquiry  into  certain  alleged  frauds  in 
elections  then  recently  held  in  the  Southern  States. 
Mr.  Elaine  opened  by  rehearsing  the  current 
rumors  concerning  these  abuses  and  pressed  his 
proposed  inquiry  in  these  words  : 

"The  issue  thus  raised  before  the  country,  Mr. 
President,  is  not  one  of  mere  sentiment  for  the 
rights  of  the  negro — though  far  distant  be  the 
day  when  the  rights  of  any  American  citizen, 
however  black  or  however  poor,  shall  form  the 
mere  dust  of  the  balance  in  any  controversy  ;  nor 
is  the  issue  one  that  involves  the  waving  of  the 
"  bloody  shirt,"  to  quote  the  elegant  venacular  of 
Democratic  vituperation  ;  nor  still  further  is  the 
issue  as  now  presented  only  a  question  of  the 
equality  of  the  black  voter  of  the  South  with  the 
white  voter  of  the  South  ;  the  issue,  Mr.  President, 
has  taken  a  far  wider  range,  one  of  portentous 
magnitude  ;  and  that  is,  whether  the  white  voter 
of  the  North  shall  be  equal  to  the  white  voter  of 

255 


256  LIFE    OF    JAMES    G.    BLAINE. 

the  South  in  shaping  the  policy  and  fixing  the 
destiny  of  this  country  ;  or  whether,  to  put  it  still 
more  baldly,  the  white  man  who  fought  in  the 
ranks  of  the  Union  Army  shall  have  as  weighty 
and  influential  a  vote  in  the  Government  of  the 
Republic  as  the  white  man  who  fought  in  the  ranks 
of  the  rebel  army.  The  one  fought  to  uphold, 
the  other  to  destroy,  the  Union  of  the  States,  and 
to-day  he  who  fought  to  destroy  is  a  far  more 
important  factor  in  the  Government  of  the  nation 
than  he  who  fought  to  uphold  it. 

"  Let  me  illustrate  my  meaning  by  comparing 
groups  of  States  of  the  same  representative 
strength  North  and  South.  Take  the  States 
of  South  Carolina,  Mississippi,  and  Louisiana. 
They  send  seventeen  Representatives  to  Con 
gress.  Their  aggregate  population  is  composed 
of  ten  hundred  and  thirty-five  thousand  whites  and 
twelve  hundred  and  twenty-four  thousand  colored ; 
the  colored  being  nearly  two  hundred  thousand 
in  excess  of  the  whites.  Of  the  seventeen  repre 
sentatives,  then,  it  is  evident  that  nine  were 
apportioned  to  these  States  by  reason  of  their 
colored  population,  and  only  eight  by  reason 
of  their  white  population;  and  yet  in  the  choice  of 
the  entire  seventeen  Representatives  the  colored 
voters  had  no  more  voice  or  power  than  their 
remote  kindred  on  the  shores  of  Senegambia  or 
on  the  Gold  Coast.  The  ten  hundred  and  thirty- 
five  thousand  white  people  had  the  sole  and 


PURITY   OF   THE    BALLOT-BOX.  257 

absolute  choice  of  the  entire  seventeen  Represen 
tatives.  In  contrast,  take  two  States  in  the  North, 
Iowa  and  Wisconsin,  with  seventeen  Representa 
tives.  They  have  a  white  population  of  two 
million,  two  hundred  and  forty-seven  thousand — 
considerably  more  than  double  the  entire  white 
population  of  the  three  Southern  States  I  have 
named.  In  Iowa  and  Wisconsin,  therefore,  it 
takes  one  hundred  and  thirty-two  thousand  white 
population  to  send  a  Representative  to  Congress, 
but  in  South  Carolina,  Mississippi,  and  Louisiana, 
every  sixty  thousand  white  people  send  a  Repre 
sentative.  In  other  words,  sixty  thousand  white 
people  in  those  Southern  States  have  precisely 
the  same  political  power  in  the  government  of  the 
country  that  one  hundred  and  thirty-two  thousand 
white  people  have  in  Iowa  and  Wisconsin." 

Mr.  Elaine  then  proceeded  to  quote  from  the 
fourteenth  amendment,  and  to  show  therefrom 
that  this  superior  power  of  the  Southern  voter  was 
not  by  reason  of  law  or  justice,  but  in  disregard 
and  defiance  of  both.  He  said  : 

"  The  patent,  unde-niable  intent  of  this  provision 
was  that  if  any  class  of  voters  were  denied,  or  in 
any  way  abridged  in  their  right  of  suffrage,  then 
the  class  so  denied  or  abridged  should  not  be 
counted  in  the  basis  of  representation  ;  or,  in 
other  words,  that  no  State  or  States  should  gain 
a  large  increase  of  representation  in  Congress  by 
reason  of  counting  any  class  of  population  not 


258  LIFE    OF   JAMES    G.  ELAINE. 

permitted  to  take  part  in  electing  such  Repre 
sentatives.  But  the  construction  given  to  this 
provision  is  that  before  any  forfeiture  of  represen 
tation  can  be  enforced  the  denial  or  abridgment 
of  suffrage  must  be  the  result  of  a  law  specifically 
enacted  by  the  State.  Under  this  construction 
every  negro  voter  may  have  his  suffrage  absolutely 
denied  or  fatally  abridged  by  the  violence,  actual 
or  threatened,  of  irresponsible  mobs,  or  by  frauds 
and  deceptions  of  State  officers  from  the  Governor 
down  to  the  last  election  clerk,  and  then,  unless 
some  State  law  can  be  shown  that  authorizes  the 
denial  or  abridgment,  the  State  escapes  all  penalty 
or  peril  of  reduced  representation.  This  construc 
tion  may  be  upheld  by  the  courts,  ruling  on  the 
letter  of  the  law,  "  which  killeth,"  but  the  spirit  of 
justice  cries  aloud  against  the  evasive  and 
atrocious  conclusion  that  deals  out  oppression  to 
the  innocent  and  shields  the  guilty  from  the 
legitimate  consequences  of  wilful  transgression. 

******** 
"The  political  power  thus  appropriated  by 
Southern  Democrats,  by  reason  of  the  negro 
population,  amounts  to  thirty-five  Representatives 
in  Congress.  It  is  massed  almost  solidly  and 
offsets  the  great  State  of  New  York  ;  or  Penn 
sylvania  and  New  Jersey  together ;  or  the  whole 
of  New  England  ;  or  Ohio  and  Indiana  united  ;  or 
the  combined  strength  of  Illinois,  Minnesota, 
Kansas,  California,  Nevada,  Nebraska,  Colorado, 


PURITY   OF   THE    BALLOT-BOX.  259 

and  Oregon.  The  seizure  of  this  power  is  wanton 
usurpation  ;  it  is  flagrant  outrage  ;  it  is  violent 
perversion  of  the  whole  theory  of  republican  gov 
ernment.  It  inures  solely  to  the  present  advan 
tage,  and  yet,  I  believe,  to  the  permanent  dishonor 
of  the  Democratic  party.  It  is  by  reason  of  this 
trampling  down  of  human  rights,  this  ruthless 
seizure  of  unlawful  power  that  the  Democratic 
party  holds  the  popular  branch  of  Congress 
to-day,  and  will,  in  less  than  ninety  days,  have 
control  of*  this  body  also,  thus  grasping  the  entire 
legislative  department  of  the  Government  through 
the  unlawful  capture  of  the  Southern  States. 

%%:%i%i%:%i%:%i 

"And  this  injustice  is  wholly  unprovoked. 
I  doubt  if  it  be  in  the  power  of  the  most 
searching  investigation  to  show  that  in  any 
Southern  state  during  the  period  of  Republican 
control  any  legal  voter  was  ever  debarred  from 
the  freest  exercise  of  his  suffrage.  Even  the 
revenges  which  would  have  leaped  into  life  with 
many  who  despised  the  negro  were  buried  out  of 
sight  with  a  magnanimity  which  the  *  superior 
race '  fail  to  follow  and  seem  reluctant  to  recog 
nize.  I  know  it  is  said  in  retort  of  such  charges 
against  the  Southern  elections  as  I  am  now 
reviewing  that  unfairness  of  equal  gravity  pre 
vails  in  Northern  elections.  I  hear  it  in  many 
quarters,  and  read  it  in  the  papers,  that  in  the  late 
exciting  election  in  Massachusetts  intimidation 

16 


26O  LIFE   OF  JAMES    G.    BLAINE. 

and  bull-dozing,  if  not  so  rough  and  rancor 
ous  as  in  the  South,  were  yet  as  widespread  and 
effective. 

"I  have  read,  and  yet  I  refuse  to  believe,  that 
the  distinguished  gentleman,  who  made  an 
energetic  but  unsuccessful  canvass  for  the  gov 
ernorship  of  that  state,  has  indorsed  and  approved 
these  charges,  and  I  have  accordingly  made  my 
resolution  broad  enough  to  include  their  thorough 
investigation.  I  am  not  demanding  fair  elections 
in  the  South  without  demanding  fair  elections  in 
the  North  also.  But  venturing  to  speak  for  the 
New  England  States,  of  whose  laws  and  customs 
I  know  something,  I  dare  assert  that  in  the  late 
election  in  Massachusetts,  or  any  of  her  neigh 
boring  Commonwealths,  it  will  be  impossible  to 
find  even  one  case  where  a  voter  was  driven 
from  the  polls,  where  a  voter  did  not  have  the  fullest, 
fairest,  freest  opportunity  to  cast  the  ballot  of  his 
choice,  and  have  it  honestly  and  faithfully  counted 
in  the  returns.  Suffrage  on  this  continent  was 
first  made  universal  in  New  England,  and  in  the 
administration  of  their  affairs  her  people  have 
found  no  other  appeal  necessary  than  that  which 
is  addressed  to  their  honesty  of  conviction  and  to 
their  intelligent  self-interest.  If  there  be  any 
thing  different  to  disclose,  I  pray  you  show  it  to  us 
that  we  may  amend  our  ways. 
******  * 

"I  know  something  of   public  opinion  in   the 


PURITY   OF   THE   BALLOT-BOX.  26 1 

North.  I  know  a  great  deal  about  the  views, 
wishes  and  purposes  of  the  Republican  party  of 
the  nation.  Within  that  entire  great  organiza 
tion  there  is  not  one  man,  whose  opinion  is 
entitled  to  be  quoted,  that  does  not  desire  peace 
and  harmony  and  friendship  and  a  patriotic  and 
fraternal  union  between  the  North  and  the  South. 
This  wish  is  spontaneous,  instinctive,  universal, 
throughout  the  Northern  States  ;  and  yet,  among 
men  of  character  and  sense,  there  is  surely  no 
need  of  attempting  to  deceive  ourselves  as  to  the 
precise  truth.  First  pure,  then  peaceable.  Gush 
will  not  remove  a  grievance,  and  no  disguise  of 
state  rights  will  close  the  eyes  of  our  people  to 
the  necessity  of  correcting  a  great  national  wrong. 
Nor  should  the  South  make  the  fatal  mistake  of 
concluding  that  injustice  to  the  negro  is  not  also 
injustice  to  the  white  man  ;  nor  should  it  ever  be 
forgotten  that  for  the  wrongs  of  both  a  remedy 
will  assuredly  be  found.  The  war,  with  all  its 
costly  sacrifices,  was  fought  in  vain  useless  equal 
rights  for  all  classes  be  established  in  all  the  states 
of  the  Union  ;  and  now,  in  words  which  are  those 
of  friendship,  however  differently  they  may  be 
accepted,  I  tell  the  men  of  the  South  here  on  this 
floor,  and  beyond  this  chamber,  that  even  if  they 
could  strip  the  negro  of  his  constitutional  rights 
they  can  never  permanently  maintain  the  inequal 
ity  of  white  men  in  this  nation  ;  they  can  never4 
make  a  white  man's  vote  in  the  South  doubly  as 


262  LIFE    OF    JAMES    G.    BLAINE. 

powerful  in  the  administration  of  the  government 
as  a  white  man's  vote  in  the  North. 

"  In  a  memorable  debate  in  the  House  of  Com 
mons,  Mr.  Macaulay  reminded  Daniel  O'Connell, 
when  he  was  moving  for  repeal,  that  the  English 
whigs  had  endured  calumny,  abuse,  popular  fury, 
loss  of  position,  exclusion  from  Parliament,  rather 
than  the  great  agitator  himself  should  be  less  than 
a  British  subject ;  and  Mr.  Macaulay  warned  him 
that  they  never  would  suffer  him  1p  be  more.  Let 
me  now  remind  you  that  the  Government  under 
whose  protecting  flag  we  sit  to-day  sacrificed 
myriads  of  lives  and  expended  thousands  of  mil 
lions  of  treasure  that  our  countrymen  of  the  South 
should  remain  citizens  of  the  United  States,  hav 
ing  equal  personal  rights  and  equal  political 
privileges  with  all  other  citizens.  And  I  venture, 
now  and  here,  to  warn  the  men  of  the  South,  in 
the  exact  words  of  Macaulay,  that  we  wilj  never 
suffer  them  to  be  more  !  " 

It  need  hardly  be  said  that  this  brilliant  conclu 
sion  was  greeted  with  hearty  applause,  to  suppress 
which  required  the  vigorous  use  of  the  President's 
gavel.  The  plea  was-  effective  in  securing  the 
desired  investigation,  and  it  is  characteristic  of 
the  frank,  fearless  and  forcible  manner  in  which 
Mr.  Elaine  meets  every  great  question. 


CHAPTER  XXIII. 

AN    AFTER-DINNER   SPEECH. 

To  make  a  good  after-dinner  speech  has  time 
out  of  mind  been  regarded  as  the  crucial  test  of 
a  genial,  jovial,  splendid  soul.  So  much  of  the 
severer  side  of  Mr.  Elaine  has  been  shown  in  the 
extracts  from  his  speeches  already  given,  that  it 
might  be  supposed  he  was  always  the  statesman 
and  the  orator.  But  he  has  a  side  of  the  very 
sunniest  kind,  and  to  illustrate  it  the  occasion  of 
the  dinner  of  the  New  England  Society,  of  New 
York,  may  be  cited.  At  this  distinguished  gath 
ering,  on  December  23d,  1878,  the  President  of 
the  Society,  Mr.  D.  T.  Appleton,  introduced  Mr. 
Elaine,  not  as  a  New  Englander  by  birth,  but  as  a 
fit  representative  of  that  section,  and  called  upon 
him  to  respond  to  this  toast : — "  New  England 
Character — Adapted  to  every  requirement ;  it  fits 
her  sons  not  only  to  fill,  but  to  adorn  every 
station." 

Mr.  Elaine  began  his  remarks  thus:  ''The 
President  has  kindly  relieved  me  from  a  personal 
explanation.  I  am  only  a  brother-in-law.  [Laugh 
ter.]  And  brothers-in-law  are  useful  in  families 

[renewed  laughter],  and  in  a  New  England  family, 

263 


264  LIFE    OF   JAMES    G.    ELAINE. 

where  modesty  is  the  prevailing  fault,  and  where 
you  can  rarely  get  one  of  the  direct  blood  and 
descent  to  say  anything  in  praise  of  his  race,  it  is, 
perhaps,  meet  and  proper  that,  unembarrassed  by 
any  consideration  of  personal  prudery,  I  can  speak 
my  mind  freely  about  you  all.  I  never  saw  New 
England  till  I  was  a  man  grown,  but  I  have  lived 
more  than  half  my  life  on  its  soil,  and  I  have  six 
children,  who  represent  the  ninth  generation  in 
descent  from  the  old  Massachusetts  colonists. 
And  I  am  not  ashamed  to  say,  Mr.  President,  in 
any  presence,  recollecting  as  I  always  do,  with 
pride,  my  Pennsylvania  birth  and  my  Scotch  and 
Scotch-Irish  ancestry — I  am  not  afraid  or  ashamed 
to  say  in  any  presence,  that  in  the  settlement  of 
this  continent,  and  the  shaping  and  moulding  of 
its  institutions,  the  leading  place,  the  chief  merit 
belongs  to  New  England.  [Applause.]  Why, 
every  chapter  of  its  history  is  weighty  with 
momentous  events.  A  small  number  came  in 
1620;  there  was  no  immigration  to  speak  of  till 
1630;  there  was  none  after  1640.  And  the 
21,000  men  that  came  in  those  brief  years  are  the 
progenitors  of  a  race  that  includes  one-third  of 
the  people  of  the  United  States  of  America.  They 
are  the  progenitors  of  a  race  of  people  twice  as 
numerous  as  all  who  spoke  the  English  language 
in  the  world  when  they  came  to  these  shores." 

Mr.   Elaine  having    next  sketched   rapidly  the 
deeds  of  the   New  England  colonists  and  their 


AN    AFTER-DINNER    SPEECH.  265 

descendants,  resumed  his  lighter  vein  again,  say 
ing:  "Well,  that  this  race  has  been  abused  and 
reviled,  is,  of  course,  inevitable.  You  remember 
the  old  gentleman  in  the  London  club.  When  he 
was  fumbling  with  his  watch  chain,  somebody, 
complimenting  him  on  its  strength,  said  :  '  Of 
course  it  is  strong.  There  is  nary  a  pickpocket 
in  London  as  hasn't  taken  a  tug  at  it  in  his  day.' 
There  is  hardly  anybody  who  has  not  taken  a 
hand  in  abusing  the  Yankee  race.  I  never  heard 
it  abused  in  quite  so  eloquent  a  manner  as  by  our 
friend  of  the  Central  Railroad  this  evening. 
[Laughter.]  Now,  in  enjoying  the  dinner  of  the 
New  England  Society  of  New  York — and  I  almost 
catch  my  breath  when  I  say  the  New  England 
Society  of  New  York — you  do  not  know  how  we 
regard  it  in  New  England.  There  are  a  great 
many  men  in  New  England  who  aspire  to  get  into 
Congress,  first  the  House,  and  then  the  Senate 
and  then  the  Cabinet,  and  then,  under  the  inspira 
tion  of  the  strong  air  and  the  mountain  scenery 
of  Vermont,  aspire  still  higher.  [Turning  round  to 
Mr.  Evarts — a  movement  which  provoked  loud 
laughter.]  But  that  is  only  the  few.  The  one 
thing  which  every  boy,  as  he  grows  up  in  New 
England,  however,  looks  forward  to  as  the  crown 
ing  glory  of  his  life,  is  to  dine  some  day  with  the 
New  England  Society  of  New  York.  Without 
this,  his  sum  of  human  happiness  is  not  complete. 
I  have  received  your  invitation  for  many  years 


266  LIFE     OF    JAMES    G.    ELAINE. 

past,  but  it  has  been  my  misfortune  never  to  have 
been  able  to  be  present  until  now,  and  I  am  here 
this  evening  to  acknowledge  all  the  pleasure  I 
enjoy  in  the  present,  and  to  express  my  regret  for 
all  that  I  have  missed  in  the  past !  " 

Here,  again,  Mr.  Elaine  indulged  for  a  few 
moments  in  a  more  serious  vein,  and  then  said : — 
"  Mr.  President,  I  should  like  to  see  this  splendid 
company  seated  at  a  typical  New  England  feast 
of  the  olden  time  ;  a  feast  spread  on  tables  that 
came  over  in  the  May  Flower  ;  you  can  find  plenty 
of  them  !  [Laughter]  the  guests  seated  on  chairs 
that  belonged  to  John  Alden  and  Miles  Standish  ; 
and  no  well-regulated  New  England  family  is 
without  a  broken  assortment  of  them.  [Loud 
laughter.]  I  should  like  to  see  a  feast  thus  cele 
brated  that  should  reproduce,  as  far  as  might  be, 
the  harder  times  and  the  coarser  fare  which  they 
endured,  that  we,  their  descendants,  and  we,  their 
friends,  might  enjoy  the  more  bounteous  and  more 
elegant  repast  with  which  we  are  indulged  to-day. 
And  I  should  like,  Mr.  President,  to  impress  upon 
every  New  Englander,  whether  seated  at  the 
primitive  table  of  coarse  fare  or  the  modern  table 
of  costly  luxury,  that  with  one  voice  we  echo  the 
declarations  of  our  distinguished  friend,  the  Sec 
retary  of  the  Treasury,  in  favor  of  an  honest  dol 
lar,  and  that  with  equal  faith  we  believe  in  an 
honest  ballot !  " 

Great   and   prolonged    applause   greeted   this 


AN    AFTER-DINNER    SPEECH.  267 

utterance,  after  which  the  speaker  closed  with  the 
following  brilliant  peroration  : 

"  Mr.  President,  I  thank  you  very  sincerely,  I 
thank  you  all,  gentlemen  of  the  New  England 
Society,  more  than  I  can  express,  for  the  cordiality 
of  your  welcome.  And  in  this  brilliant  scene,  in 
this  grand  and  delightful  meeting,  in  this  assem 
blage,  surrounded  with  everything  that  gives  com 
fort  and  grace  and  elegance  to  social  life,  in  this 
meeting,  protected  by  law,  and  itself  representing 
law,  let  me  recall  one  memory  always  present  with 
me  on  such  occasions,  and  that  is  the  sadness — if 
sadness  may  be  protruded  upon  a  meeting  such 
as  this — the  sadness  which  I  feel  when  I  remem 
ber  the  men  who,  in  1620,  landed  on  the  Plymouth 
shore,  and  did  not  survive  the  first  year.  For  of 
all  the  men  engaged  in  great  and  heroic  contests, 
those,  I  think,  are  most  to  be  commiserated  and 
most  to  be  sympathized  with  who,  making  all  the 
sacrifices  and  enduring  all  the  hardships,  are  not 
permitted  to  enjoy  any  of  the  triumphs  or  the 
blessings.  It  was  Quincy  who  died  before  the 
first  shot  was  fired  in  the  Revolution  he  did  so 
much  to  create  ;  it  was  Warren  who  died  when 
the  first  shot  was  fired  ;  it  was  Reynolds  who, 
when  rallying  his  corps  for  the  doubtful  and  criti 
cal  battle  of  Gettysburg,  fell  before  he  knew  its 
fate  ;  it  was  McPherson,  in  the  great  march  to  the 
sea,  who  lost  his  life  before  he  knew  the  issue  of 
that  daring  and  almost  romantic  expedition.  For 


268  LIFE    OF    JAMES    G.  ELAINE. 

these  and  all  such,  from  Plymouth  Rock  to  the  last 
battle-field  of  the  rebellion,  that  perished  in  their 
pride,  and  perished  before  they  knew  that  what 
they  were  dying  for  should  succeed,  I  offer,  and  I 
am  sure  you  will  join  with  me  in  offering,  our  pro 
found  veneration,  our  respectful  homage." 


CHAPTER  XXIV. 

THE    PLUMED    KNIGHT. 

THE  title  of  "  Plumed  Knight,"  for  Mr.  Elaine, 
at  once  struck  the  popular  fancy,  and  was  eagerly 
adopted.  It  seemed  to  express  both  his  gallant 
and  chivalric  bearing,  and  that  quality  of  leader 
ship  that  lead  his  party  to  follow  him  as  enthusias 
tically  and  victoriously  as  the  army  of  Navarre  did 
the  white-decked  hemlet  of  their  King.  An  earlier 
allusion  of  the  same  sort  is  claimed  for  "Tom 
Fitch,"  the  "silver-tongued  orator"  of  the  Pacific 
coast,  but  the  general  use  of  the  phrase  dates  from 
the  eloquent  speech  of  Robert  G.  Ingersoll,  in  pre 
senting  Mr.  Elaine's  name  to  the  Republican  Con 
vention  of  1876.  This  will  justify  the  insertion  of 
the  most  important  passages  of  the  speech  in  these 
pages.  Mr.  Ingersoll  then  said  : 

"  The  Republicans  of  the  United  States  demand  as 
their  leader  in  the  great  contest  of  1876  a  man  of  intel 
ligence,  a  man  of  integrity,  a  man  of  well-known  and 
approved  political  opinions.  They  demand  a  statesman. 
They  demand  a  reformer  after,  as  well  as  before,  the  elec 
tion.  They  demand  a  politician  in  the  highest,  broadest, 
and  best  sense — a  man  of  superb  moral  courage.  They 
demand  a  man  acquainted  with  public  affairs,  with  the 
269 


2  70  LIFE    OF   JAMES    G.  ELAINE. 

wants  of  the  people,  with  not  only  the  requirements  of 
the  hour,  but  with  the  demands  of  the  future.  They 
demand  a  man  broad  enough  to  comprehend  the  relations 
of  this  Government  to  the  other  nations  of  the  earth. 
They  demand  a  man  well  versed  in  the  powers,  duties, 
and  prerogatives  of  each  and  every  department  of  this 
Government.  They  demand  a  man  who  will  sacredly 
preserve  the  financial  honor  of  the  United  States ;  one 
who  knows  enough  to  know  that  the  national  debt  must 
be  paid  through  the  prosperity  of  this  people ;  one  who 
knows  enough  to  know  that  all  the  financial  theories  in 
the  world  cannot  redeem  a  single  dollar ;  one  who  knows 
enough  to  know  that  all  the  money  must  be  made,  not  by 
law,  but  by  labor ;  one  who  knows  enough  to  know  that 
the  people  of  the  United  States  have  the  industry  to  make 
the  money  and  the  honor  to  pay  it  over  just  as  fast  as 
they  make  it. 

"  The  Republicans  of  the  United  States  demand  a  man 
who  knows  that  prosperity  and  resumption,  when  they 
come,  must  come  together ;  that  when  they  come  they 
will  come,  hand  in  hand,  through  the  golden  harvest  fields ; 
hand  in  hand  by  the  whirling  spindles  and  the  turning 
wheels ;  hand  in  hand  past  the  open  furnace  doors ;  hand 
in  hand  by  the  flaming  forges;  hand  in  hand  by  the 
chimneys  filled  with  eager  fire,  greeted  and  grasped  by 
the  countless  sons  of  toil.  This  money  has  to  be  dug 
out  of  the  earth.  You  cannot  make  it  by  passing  reso 
lutions  in  a  political  convention. 

"  The  Republicans  of  the  United  States  want  a  man 
who  knows  that  this  Government  should  protect  every 
citizen  at  home  and  abroad ;  who  knows  that  any  govern 
ment  that  will  not  defend  its  defenders,  and  protect  its 
protectors,  is  a  disgrace  to  the  map  of  the  world.  They 


THE    PLUMED    ANIGHT.  271 

demand  a  man  who  believes  in  the  eternal  separation  and 
divorcement  of  church  and  school.  They  demand  a  man 
whose  political  reputation  is  spotless  as  a  star ;  but  they 
do  not  demand  that  their  candidate  shall  have  a  certificate 
of  moral  character  signed  by  a  confederate  congress. 
The  man  who  has,  in  full,  heaped,  and  rounded  measure, 
all  these  splendid  qualifications,  is  the  present  grand  and 
gallant  leader  of  the  Republican  party — James  G.  Elaine. 

"  Our  country,  crowned  with  the  vast  and  marvelous 
achievements  of  its  first  century,  asks  for  a  man  worthy 
of  the  past  and  prophetic  of  her  future;  asks  for  a  man 
who  has  the  audacity  of  genius ;  asks  for  a  man  who  has 
the  grandest  combination  of  heart,  conscience,  and  brain 
beneath  her  flag — such  a  man  is  James  G.  Elaine.  For 
the  Republican  host,  led  by  this  intrepid  man,  there  can 
be  no  defeat. 

"  This  is  a  grand  year — a  year  filled  with  the  recollec 
tions  of  the  Revolution ;  filled  with  proud  and  tender 
memories  of  the  past ;  with  the  sacred  legends  of  liberty — 
a  year  in  which  the  sons  of  freedom  will  drink  from  the 
fountains  of  enthusiasm — a  year  in  which  the  people  call 
for  a  man  who  has  preserved  in  Congress  what  our 
soldiers  won  upon  the  field — a  year  in  which  they  call 
for  the  man  who  has  torn  from  the  throat  of  treason  the 
tongue  of  slander;  for  the  man  who  has  snatched  the 
mask  of  Democracy  from  the  hideous  face  of  rebellion ; 
for  the  man  who,  like  an  intellectual  athlete,  has  stood  in 
the  arena  of  debate  and  challenged  all  comers,  and  who 
is  still  a  total  stranger  to  defeat. 

"  Like  an  armed  warrior,  like  a  plumed  knight,  James 
G.  Elaine  marched  down  the  halls  of  the  American  Con 
gress  and  threw  his  shining  lance  full  and  fair  against  the 
brazen  foreheads  of  the  defamers  of  his  country  and  the 


272  LIFE    OF   JAMES    G.  ELAINE. 

maligners  of  her  honor.  For  the  Republican  party  to 
desert  this  gallant  leader  now  is  as  though  an  army 
should  desert  their  general  upon  the  field  of  battle. 

"  James  G.  Elaine  is  now  and  has  been  for  years  the 
bearer  of  the  sacred  standard  of  the  Republican  party.  I 
call  it  sacred,  because  no  human  being  can  stand  beneath 
its  folds  without  becoming  and  without  remaining  free. 

"  Gentlemen  of  the  Convention :  In  the  name  of  the 
great  Republic,  the  only  Republic  that  ever  existed  upon 
this  earth  ;  in  the  name  of  all  her  defenders  and  of  all  her 
supporters ;  in  the  name  of  all  her  soldiers  living ;  in  the 
name  of  all  her  soldiers  dead  upon  the  field  of  battle,  and 
in  the  name  of  those  who  perished  in  the  skeleton  clutch 
of  famine  at  Andersonville  and  Libby,  whose  sufferings 
he  so  vividly  remembers,  Illinois — Illinois  nominates  for 
the  next  President  of  this  country  that  prince  of  par 
liamentarians,  that  leader  of  leaders,  James  G.  Elaine." 

Mr.  Elaine's  knightly  conquests  have  not  been 
made  on  the  fields  of  martial  strife.  Some,  in 
their  anxiety  to  disparage,  may  make  this  as  a 
point  against  him  and  his  conceded  title,  but 
though  his  pre-eminent  abilities  for  statesmanship 
have  kept  him  constantly  in  civil  employment,  it 
is  certain  that  there  is  no  warmer  friend  of  the 
soldiers  and  sailors  who  actually  did  the  fighting 
for  the  Union  in  their  many  bloody  battles.  From 
the  very  first  outbreak  of  the  war  until  he  left 
Congress  he  was  foremost  in  advocating  every 
measure  that  could  add  to  the  efficiency  of  the 
armies  in  the  field,  comfort  or  reward  the  nation's 
brave  defenders,  and  relieve  their  widows  and 


THE    PLUMED    KNIGHT.  273 

children  from  danger  of  want.  His  earnest 
sympathy  made  him  from  the  first  a  sharer  in  all 
the  aspirations,  interests  and  wishes  of  the  soldier 
on  the  field. 

A  volunteer  officer  who  served  with  conspicuous 
usefulness  recently  said  that  what  sent  him  to 
the  war  was  the  accidental  hearing  of  a  speech  of 
Mr.  Elaine's  in  the  Maine  legislature,  in  reply  to 
the  ablest  constitutional  lawyer  in  that  body,  who 
had  denied  the  right  of  the  Federal  government 
to  resist  secession,  and  advocated  a  peace  policy. 
Mr.  Blaine  was  Speaker,  but  descended  from  the 
chair,  and  in  eloquent  words  not  only  overturned 
the  legal  sophistries  of  his  opponent,  but  set  forth 
the  duty  of  every  true  American  in  the  impend 
ing  crisis  in  a  manner  that  roused  the  deepest  and 
most  effective  enthusiasm.  From  that  time  there 
was  no  question  about  the  aid  of  Maine  in  the 
vigorous  prosecution  of  the  war.  So  it  will  be 
found  in  examining  Mr.  Elaine's  record  through 
out  that  he  has  always  been  on  the  side  of  the 
soldier,  never  against  him,  and  so  he  will  continue 
while  life  and  energy  remain  to  him,  knightly  in 
his  spirit,  soldierly  in  his  deeds. 


CHAPTER  XXV. 

i 

OUT    OF    POLITICS. 

As  soon  as  President  Arthur  had  passed  the 
difficulties  natural  to  such  an  unexpected  begin 
ning  of  a  new  Administration,  and  was  in  no  danger 
of  embarrassment  from  this  course,  Mr.  Elaine 
pressed  for  an  immediate  acceptance  of  the  resig 
nation  which  he  had  tendered  along  with  those  of 
the  other  members  of  Mr.  Garfield's  cabinet. 
After  such  a  year,  even  his  iron  constitution 
craved  a  release  from  care,  if  not  from  occupation, 
and  he'was  anxious  to  return  to  private  life. 

It  was  a  pleasant  home  to  which  he  returned, 
endeared  to  him  first  of  all  by  the  society  of  his 
family,  and,  in  a  degree,  only  second  to  this,  by 
the  beloved  company  of  his  books,  of  which  he 
has  drawn  around  him  the  best  of  all  ages. 
Works  of  art,  also,  are  not  missing  from  his  walls. 
He  does  not  regard  the  aesthetic  rule  that  engrav 
ings  and  paintings  should  not  hang  in  the  same 
apartment,  for  there  are  engravings  in  every 
room,  and  paintings  are  not  on  that  account 
excluded.  The  gem  of  them  all  is  the  picture  of 
"  Charles  II.  and  his  Court,"  painted  by  Sir  Peter 
Lely  in  1668,  and  which  Mr.  Elaine  was  fortunate 

274 


OUT   OF   POLITICS.  2 75 

enough  to  acquire  at  the  sale,  a  few  years  ago,  of 
some  old  effects  of  Lord  Baltimore.  Among  his 
curiosities  is  a  large  number  of  autographs, 
including  those  of  Dickens,  Thackeray,  E.  B. 
Lytton,  Gladstone,  Gambetta,  and  other  famous 
cotemporaries,  inscribed  on  pictures  presented  by 
themselves. 

In  this  pleasant  retirement,  all  the  more 
enjoyable  after  twenty-five  years  of  strife,  Mr. 
Blaine  found  ample  occupation  in  that  historical 
work  which  he  had  proposed  to  himself  some 
years  before,  and  'to  which  he  devoted  himself 
with  the  same  thoroughness  that  has  before  been 
described  as  part  of  his  character.  For  the  first 
time,  perhaps,  he  was  a  profound  disappointment 
to  his  friends.  Contented  with  his  position, 
engrossed  with  his  private  interests  and  with 
flattering  offers  for  literary  work,  beyond  what  he 
could  execute  in  years  by  the  utmost  diligence, 
Mr.  Blaine  declined  to  take  part  in  politics,  even 
to  aid  his  own  candidacy  for  the  highest  office  in 
the  land.  No  entreaties  by  those  who  thought 
that  he  was  defeating  the  hopes  of  his  admirers 
could  shake  this  resolution,  and,  as  it  turned 
out,  he  was  wiser  than  they.  Not  disdaining  the 
prospective  nomination,  yet  largely  grown  indif 
ferent  to  it,  Mr.  Blaine  knew  that  it  would  come 
to  him,  if  at  all,  by  the  spontaneous  movement  of 
the  Republican  masses,  over-ruling  those  in 
control  of  the  machinery  of  the  party.  This  move- 

17 


276  LIFE   OF   JAMES    G.  ELAINE. 

ment  he  could  not  strengthen,  but  only  perhaps 
weaken,  by  going-  down  into  the  thick  of  the  fray, 
and  employing  the  same  tactics  as  those  who 
were  eagerly  seeking  their  own  aggrandizement. 
So  the  voice  of  the  people  calling  him  from  his 
retirement,  came  to  him,  not  exactly  at  the  plow, 
like  Cincinnatus,  but  swinging  in  a  hammock  on 
the  lawn  of  his  pleasant  summer  home  at  Augusta, 
and  it  was  whispered  through  a  telephone  to  the 
ear  of  his  daughter,  to  whom  it  conveyed  much 
more  pleasurable  excitement  than  to  him. 

Here  the  present  narrative  necessarily  leaves 
him.  He  has  had  trials  and  struggles,  but  has 
surmounted  them  all.  He  is  strong  in  the  affec 
tion  of  a  host  of  friends  in  all  parts  of  the  Union. 
His  name  is  written  high  on  the  page  of  honor. 
No  cloud  hovers  upon  the  horizon  of  his  life.  The 
people  after  twelve  years  waiting  and  two  disap 
pointments,  have  wrung  from  the  politicians  the 
right  to  vote  for  him  for  the  most  exalted  dignity 
in  the  world,  the  chief  magistracy  of  over  fifty 
millions  of  freemen,  and  unless  all  signs  fail  he 
will  take  his  place  in  the  White  House  on  the 
Fourth  of  March,  to  continue  the  work  which  fell 
from  the  hand  of  Garfield,  and  to  be  in  a  sense 
beyond  his  predecessors  for  many  years — an 
American  President  of  the  Americans. 

"  Niliil  quod  tctigit  11011  ornavit" 


CHAPTER  XXVI. 

MR.  ELAINE'S  ASSOCIATE. 

As  a  fitting  conclusion  to  this  part  of  our  work, 
and  as  a  fitting  introduction  to  the  fuller  con 
sideration  of  Elaine's  associate  in  candidacy 
beyond,  General  Logan's  farewell  to  the  "Army 
of  the  Tennessee  "  is  here  inserted : 

"HEADQUARTERS  ARMY  OF  THE  TENNESSEE. 

"  Officer -s  and  Soldiers  of  the  Army  of  the    Ten 
nessee: 

"The  profound  gratification  I  feel  in  being 
authorized  to  release  you  from  the  onerous  obli 
gations  of  the  camp,  and  return  you,  laden  with 
laurels,  to  homes  where  warm  hearts  wait  to 
welcome  you,  is  somewhat  embittered  by  the 
painful  reflection  that  I  am  sundering  the  ties 
that  trials  have  made  true,  time  made  tender, 
suffering  made  sacred,  perils  made  proud,  hero 
ism  made  honorable,  and  fame  made  forever 
fearless  of  the  future.  It  is  no  common  occasion 
that  demands  the  disbandonment  of  a  military 
organization,  before  the  resistless  power  of  which, 
mountains  bristling  with  bayonets  have  bowed, 

277 


278  LIFE   OF   JAMES    G.  BLAINE. 

cities  have  surrendered,  and  millions  of  brave 
men  been  conquered.  Although  I  have  been 
but  a  short  period  your  commander,  we  are  not 
strangers.  Affections  have  sprung  up  between  us 
during  the  long  years  of  doubt  and  gloom,  war 
and  carnage,  which  have  passed,  and  which  we 
have  passed  through  together,  nurtured  by  com 
mon  perils,  sufferings  and  sacrifices,  and  riveted 
by  the  memories  of  gallant  comrades,  whose 
bones  repose  beneath  the  sod  of  an  hundred 
battle-fields,  nor  time  nor  distance  will  weaken  or 
efface.  The  many  marches  you  have  made,  the 
clangers  you  have  despised,  the  haughtiness  you 
have  humbled,  the  duties  you  have  discharged, 
the  glory  you  have  gained,  the  destiny  you  have 
discovered  for  the  country,  in  whose  cause  you 
have  conquered,  all  recur  at  this  moment  in  all 
the  vividness  that  marked  the  scenes  through 
which  we  passed.  From  the  pens  of  the  ablest 
historians  of  the  land,  daily  are  drifting  out  upon 
the  current  of  time,  page  upon  page,  volume 
upon  volume  of  your  deeds,  and,  floating  down  to 
future  generations,  will  inspire  the  student  of 
history  with  admiration,  the  patriot  American 
with  veneration  for  his  ancestors,  and  the  lover 
of  republican  liberty,  with  gratitude  for  those 
who  in  a  fresh  baptism  of  -blood  re-consecrated 
the  powers  and  energies  of  the  Republic  to  the 
cause  of  constitutional  freedom.  Long  may  it 
be  the  happy  fortune  of  each  and  every  one  of 


MR.    ELAINE  S    ASSOCIATE.  279 

you  to  live  in  the  full  fruition  of  the  boundless 
blessings  you  have  secured  to  the  human  race. 

"Only  he  whose  heart  has  been  thrilled  with 
admiration  for  your  impetuous  and  unyielding 
valor  in  the  thickest  of  the  fight,  can  appreciate 
with  what  pride  I  can  recount  the  brilliant  achieve 
ments  which  immortalize  you,  and  enrich  the 
pages  of  our  National  history.  Passing  by  the 
earlier,  but  not  less  signal  triumphs  of  the  war, 
in  which  most  of  you  participated,  and  inscribed 
upon  your  banners  such  victories  as  Donaldstin 
and  Shiloh,  I  recur  to  campaigns,  seiges,  and  vic 
tories  that  challenge  the  admiration  of  the  world, 
and  elicit  the  unwilling  applause  of  all  Europe. 
Turning  your  backs  upon  the  blood-bathed  heights 
of  Vicksburg,  you  launched  into  a  region  swarm 
ing  with  enemies,  fighting  your  way  and  marching, 
without  adequate  supplies,  to  answer  the  cry  for 
succor  that  came  to  you  from  the  noble  but 
beleagured  army  at  Chattanooga. 

"  Your  steel  next  flashed  among  the  mountains 
of  the  Tennessee,  and  your  weary  limbs  found 
rest  before  the  embattled  heights  of  Missionary 
Ridge,  and  there  with  dauntless  courage  you 
breasted  again  the  enemy's  destructive  fire,  and 
shared  with  your  comrades  of  the  Army  of  the 
Cumberland  the  glories  of  a  victory,  than  which 
no  soldier  can  boast  a  prouder. 

"  In  that  unexampled  campaign  of  vigilant  and 
vigorous  warfare  from  Chattanooga  to  Atlanta, 


28O  LIFE    OF    JAMES    G.    ELAINE. 

you  freshened  your  laurels  at  Resaco,  grappling 
with  the  enemy  behind  his  works,  hurling  him 
back  dismayed  and  broken. 

"  Pursuing  him  from  thence,  marking  your  path 
with  the  graves  of  the  fallen,  you  again  triumphed 
over  superior  numbers  at  Dallas,  fighting  your 
way  from  there  to  Kenesaw  Mountain,  and  under 
the  murderous  artillery  that  frowned  from  its  rug 
ged  heights,  with  a  tenacity  and  constancy  that 
finds  few  parallels,  you  labored,  fought  and  suf 
fered  through  the  broiling  rays  of  a  Southern 
mid-summer  sun,  until  at  last  you  planted  your 
colors  upon  its  topmost  heights. 

"Again,  on  the  226.  of  July,  1864,  rendered 
memorable  through  all  time  for  the  terrible  strug 
gle  you  so  heroically  maintained  under  discour 
aging  disasters,  and  that  saddest  of  all  reflections, 
the  loss  of  that  exemplary  soldier  and  popular 
leader,  the  lamented  McPherson,  your  matchless 
courage  turned  defeat  into  a  glorious  victory. 
Ezra  Chapel  and  Jonesboro,  added  new  lustre  to  a 
radiant  record,  the  latter  unbarring  to  you  the 
proud  gate  city  of  the  South. 

"Th«  daring  of  a  desperate  foe  in  thrusting  his 
legions  northward,  exposed  the  country  in  your 
front,  and  though  rivers,  swamps  and  enemies 
opposed,  you  boldly  surmounted  every  obstacle, 
beat  down  all  opposition  and  marched  onward  to 
the  sea.  Without  any  act  to  dim  the  brightness 
of  your  historic  page,  the  world  rang  plaudits 


MR.  BLAINE'S  ASSOCIATE.  281 

when  your  labors  and  struggles  culminated  at 
Savannah,  and  the  old  *  Starry  Banner'  waved 
once  more  over  the  walls  of  one  of  our  proudest 
cities  of  the  seaboard.  Scarce  a  breathing  spell 
had  passed  when  your  colors  faded  from  the  coast, 
and  your  columns  plunged  into  the  swamps  of  the 
Carolinas.  The  sufferings  you  endured,  the  labors 
you  performed  and  the  successes  you  achieved  in 
those  morasses,  deemed  impassable,  forms  a  cred 
itable  episode  in.  the  History  of  the  war.  Poca- 
taligo,  Charleston,  and  Raleigh,  Salkahatchie, 
Edisto,  Branchville,  Orangeburgh,  Columbia  and 
Bentonville,  are  names  that  will  ever  be  suggestive 
of  the  resistless  sweep  of  your  columns  through 
the  territory  that  cradled  and  nurtured,  from 
whence  was  sent  forth  on  its  mission  of  crime, 
misery  and  bloodshed,  the  disturbing  and  disor 
ganizing  spirit  of  secession  and  rebellion. 

"  The  work  for  which  you  pledged  your  brave 
hearts  and  brawny  arms  to  the  Government  of 
your  fathers,  you  have  nobly  performed.  You  are 
seen  in  the  past  gathering  in  the  darkness  that 
enveloped  the  land,  rallying  as  the  guardians  of 
man's  proudest  heritage,  forgetting  the  thread 
unwoven  in  the  loom,  quitting  the  anvil  and  aban 
doning  the  work-shops  to  vindicate  the  supremacy 
of  the  laws  and  the  authority  of  the  Constitution. 
Four  years  have  you  struggled  in  the  bloodiest 
and  most  destructive  war  that  ever  drenched  the 
earth  with  human  gore  ;  step  by  step  you  have 


282  LIFE    OF    JAMES    G.    ELAINE. 

borne  our  standard,  until  to-day — over  every  fort 
ress  and  arsenal  that  rebellion  wrenched  from  us, 
and  over  city,  town  and  hamlet  from  the  lakes  to 
the  gulf,  and  from  ocean  to  ocean,  proudly  floats 
the  'Starry  Emblem'  of  our  National  unity  and 
strength. 

4 'Your  rewards,  my  comrades,  are  the  welcoming 
plaudits  of  a  grateful  people,  the  consciousness 
that  in  saving  the  republic,  you  have  won  for  your 
country  renewed  respect  and  power  at  home  and 
abroad,  that  in  the  unexampled  era  of  our  growth 
and  prosperity  that  dawns  with  peace,  their  attaches 
mightier  wealth  of  pride  and  glory  than  ever  before 
to  that  loved  boast,  '  /  am  an  American  citizen' 

"  In  relinquishing  the  implements  of  war,  for 
those  of  peace,  let  your  conduct  ever  be  that  of 
warriors  in  time  of  war,  and  peaceful  citizens  in 
the  time  of  peace.  Let  not  the  lustre  of  that 
bright  name  that  you  have  won  as  soldiers  be 
dimmed  by  any  improper  act  as  citizens,  but  as 
time  rolls  on  let  your  record  grow  brighter  and 
brighter  still. 

"  JOHN  A.  LOGAN, 

"  Major -General,  Commanding. 

"  LOUISVILLE,  KY.,  July  13111,  1865." 

A  man  who  can  review  such  a  record,  and  who 
did  his  full  soldierly  share  in  it  all,  is  a  fit  asso 
ciate  for  him  whose  biography  has  here  been 
sketched — the  Hon.  James  Gillespie  Blaine. 


RECORD 


REPUBLICAN  NOMINATING  CONVENTION 


Chicago,    June    j-6,    1884. 


283 


CHAPTER  I. 

THE    CONVENTION. 

CHICAGO  is  never  a  quiet  place,  nor  does 
excessive  modesty  mark  the  average  resident  of 
that  goodly  city,  but  the  early  days  of  June, 
1884,  saw  it  a  busier  city  than  usual, — its  streets 
swarmed  with  men  headed  by  bands  of  music,  and 
not  overwhelmed  with  a  modest  or  retiring  spirit. 
An  observer  of  these  scenes  said:  "The  crowds 
are  great  and  noisy,  the  bands  are  numerous 
and  brassy,  as  are  other  blowers  of  human 
kind." 

On  Monday  there  was  an  atmospheric  tempest, 
with  rain  and  hail,  thunder  and  lightning,  but  it 
was  a  mere  ripple  compared  to  that  which  raged 
about  the  Palmer  House,  where  rumor  said  a 
clicker  had  been  made  which  turned  an  instructed 
and  pledged  delegation  into  channels  other  than 
that  fore-ordained  for  them.  There  were  other 
storm-centres  developed  where  the  thunders  of 
profanity  rolled,  and  where  wit  and  logic  flashed, 
but  the  peace  was  kept  in  a  general  way,  and 
preparations  went  on  vigorously  for  the  great 
meeting  of  Tuesday. 

285 


2 86  .  THE    CONVENTION. 

During  all  of  Saturday  night  and  Sunday  an 
army  of  carpenters,  gas  fitters  and  decorators 
had  toiled  in  the  work  of  remodeling  the  great 
hall  to  meet  the  requirements  of  the  approaching 
Convention.  The  first  five  rows  of  seats  in  the 
centre  and  seven  on  either  side  were  taken  out, 
leaving  a  space  of  thirty  feet  between  the  stage 
and  that  portion  of  the  hall  reserved  for  the  dele 
gates.  In  this  space  rows  of  tables  to  accommo 
date  three  hundred  working  members  of  the  press 
were  placed.  The  stage  and  rafters  of  the  build 
ing  were  gaily  decorated  with  flags  and  bunting, 
and  from  the  galleries,  which  run  in  a  semi-circle 
around  the  hall,  the  arms  of  each  State  and  Ter 
ritory  were  hung.  The  hall  will  accommodate 
about  9000  persons. 

Members  of  the  National  Committee  spent  the 
greater  portion  of  Sunday  superintending  these 
changes,  all  of  which  were  completed  by  Monday 
noon. 

All  the  delegations  were  officially  requested  to 
be  prepared  to  report  to  the  Convention,  upon  its 
temporary  organization  on  Tuesday,  their  officers 
and  committee-men,  and  that  the  names  of  the 
State  and  Territorial  delegations  be  sent  to  the 
National  Committee  before  the  Convention  meets. 

These  precautions  went  far  toward  simplify 
ing  the  act  of  getting  to  work  on  the  opening 
day.  Affairs  were  in  charge  of  the  National 
Republican  Committee,  DWIGHT  M.  SABIN,  Min- 


THE    CONVENTION.  287 

nesota,  Chairman ;  JOHN  A.  MARTIN,  Kansas, 
Secretary. 

The  scene  at  the  place  of  meeting  on  the  morning 
of  June  3d  was  full  of  interest.  It  is  known  tech 
nically  as  Exposition  Building,  and  stands  on 
Michigan  avenue,  where  a  degree  of  freshness  of 
the  better  sort  manifests  itself.  In  front  of  the 
building  assembled  at  an  early  hour  at  least  ten 
thousand  eager,  restless  and  pushing  people. 
They  were  confronted  by  a  series  of  doors,  labelled, 
numbered,  lettered  and  policed.  Committee  intel 
ligence  pointed  one  and  all  to  their  respective 
places  of  entrance,  but  nobody  appeared  to  know 
what  to  do.  Consequently  they  pushed,  screamed 
and  yelled.  There  was  some  ill-nature,  but  it  was 
an  American  crowd,  after  all,  and  by  eleven  o'clock 
their  was  a  great  assemblage  in  the  immensely 
large  hall,  where  not  more  than  a  fifth  can  hear 
more  than  a  tenth  of  the  words  of  wit  or  wisdom. 

There  is  a  huge  platform,  in  the  fore  front  of 
which  is  the  chairman's  desk,  draped  with  flags, 
decorated  with  a  huge  basket  of  flowers  and  made 
typical  by  an  immense  gilt  eagle  in  front.  On  either 
side  are  tables,  for  secretaries  and  officers.  Back 
of  these,  in  tiers,  are  ladies  in  quantities  and  men 
of  note  by  the  bushel.  Immediately  in  front  of 
the  platform  on  two  tiers  of  platforms  are  tables, 
occupied  by  newspaper  men  of  all  sorts  and  con 
ditions.  This,  by  the  way,  is  a  curious  phase  of 
ink.  Some  journals  of  no  great  circulation  or 


288  THE   CONVENTION. 

influence  have  five  or  six  men,  while  the  largest 
metropolitan  papers  are  content  with  two. 

The  hall  itself  is  divided  into  three  sections. 
First,  the  body  looks  like  an  entire  acre  of  heads, 
occupied  by  delegates,  about  whom  are  rows  of 
private  boxes,  occupied  by  ladies  and  guests ; 
second,  by  a  gallery  of  raised  seats  at  the  end 
opposite  the  platform,  and  then  two  long  stretches 
of  galleries.  Into  this  vast  space  pour  the  people 
pell-mell  and  higgly-piggedly — delegates,  alter 
nates,  guests  and  all  sorts.  The  band  played  all 
manner  of  pieces  while  the  crowds  came  in. 

Among  the  members  of  the  United  States 
Senate  present  at  the  opening  were  Senators 
Aldrich,  of  Rhode  Island  ;  Blair,  of  New  Hamp 
shire  ;  Hoar,  of  Massachusetts  ;  Platt,  of  Con 
necticut  ;  Miller,  of  New  York  ;  Miller,  of  Cali 
fornia  ;  Sewell,  of  New  Jersey  ;  Mahone,  of  Vir 
ginia  ;  Palmer,  of  Michigan  ;  Conger,  of  Michi 
gan  ;  Harrison,  of  Indiana  ;  Cullom,  of  Illinois  ; 
Sabin,  of  Minnesota  ;  Plumb,  of  Kansas  ;  Man- 
derson,  of  Nebraska ;  Bowen,  of  Colorado ; 
Dolph,  of  Oregon,  and  Jones,  of  Nevada  ;  and 
among  the  representatives  in  Congress,  Messrs. 
Boutelle,  Millikan  and  Dingley,  of  Maine  ;  Stew 
art,  of  Vermont ;  Long  and  Rice,  of  Massachu 
setts  ;  Skinner,  Burleigh  and  Wadsworth,  of  New 
York  ;  William  Walter  Phelps,  of  New  Jersey  ; 
Baynet  and  Bingham,  of  Pennsylvania;  Halton 
of  Maryland;  Libby,  of  Virginia;  O'Hara,  of 


THE   CONVENTION.  29! 

North  Carolina  ;  Mills,  of  South  Carolina  ;  Jef- 
fards,  of  Mississippi ;  Kellogg",  of  Louisiana  ; 
Houk  and  Pettibone,  of  Tennessee  ;  Ochiltree,  of 
Texas  ;  McKinley,  Robinson  and  Hart,  of  Ohio  ; 
Calkins,  Browne,  Peele  and  Steele,  of  Indiana  ; 
Thomas,  Davis  and  Adams,  of  Illinois  ;  Wash- 
burne,  of  Minnesota  ;  Hoar,  of  Michigan  ;  An 
derson  and  Morrell,  of  Kansas  and  Valentine,  of 
Nebraska.  Generals,  colonels  and  governors 
were  as  thick  as  flies  in  pea  time,  and  old  stagers 
were  multitudinous,  one  of  them  being  black  Fred 
Douglass,  with  white  hair  and  a  white  wife. 

Soon  after  the  hour  of  noon,  Senator  Sabin, 
Chairman  of  the  National  Committee,  called  the 
Convention  to  order  by  three  raps  of  the  gavel, 
and  introduced  the  Rev.  Frank  Bristor,  of  Chi 
cago,  who  opened  the  proceedings  with  prayer. 
Senator  Sabin  then  delivered  his  opening  address, 
in  which  he  said  that  Chicago  was  known  as  Con 
vention  City.  It  was  the  field  of  Republican  vic 
tory.  Here  it  was  that  that  immortal  patriot, 
Abraham  Lincoln,  was  chosen  ;  here  the  party 
chose  that  great  chieftain,  General  Grant ;  here  it 
nominated  that  honored  soldier,  that  great  states 
man,  that  representative  citizen,  James  A.  Gar- 
field.  [Cheers.]  Every  action  of  the  party  on 
this  historic  ground  has  been  followed  by  victory. 
Having  succeeded  against  its  opponents  on  all 
former  occasions,  it  was  about  to  put  its  house  in 
order  for  another  conflict.  As  a  consequence  of 


2Q2  THE   CONVENTION. 

a  vote  adopted  by  the  last  Convention,  the  present 
body  is  largely  made  up  of  men  instructed  by 
their  own  constituents,  and  it  was  therefore  to  be 
hoped  that  the  voice  of  the  people  would  be 
largely  puissant  in  its  deliberations.  [Applause.] 

Mr.  Sabin  concluded  by  nominating  Hon. 
Powell  Clayton,  of  Arkansas,  for  Chairman  pro 
tern.,  but  the  Convention,  by  a  vote  of  431  to  387, 
chose  to  this  post  the  Hon.  John  R.  Lynch,  of 
Mississippi,  an  act  which  indicated  that  the  spirit 
of  independent  action  was  abroad  in  the  Conven 
tion.  After  considerable  discussion  on  minor 
matters,  and  the  settlement  of  some  preliminary 
business,  the  great  body  adjourned  for  the  day, 
all  its  members  seemingly  at  sea  as  to  the  coming 
nominees. 

Soon  after  eleven  o'clock  on  Wednesday,  June 
4th,  the  Convention  reassembled,  Chairman 
Lynch  presiding.  At  once  the  scene  became 
animated  with  the  multitude  of  communications, 
resolutions,  arid  similar  offerings  which  were 
thrust  before  the  House,  only  to  be  referred  right 
and  left  to  the  various  committees.  After  con 
siderable  discussion  and  oratory,  the  Committee 
on  Permanent  Organization  reported,  recommend 
ing  as  Permanent  Chairman,  General  J.  B.  Hend 
erson,  of  Missouri,  who,  upon  taking  his  post, 
made  the  regulation  speech  of  thanks,  distributing 
his  complimentary  words  on  all  sides,  and  to  all 
the  possible  candidates  for  the  honors  of  the  Con- 


THE   CONVENTION.  293 

vention.  More  resolutions,  on  all  manner  of 
topics,  were  received  and  referred,  and  so  the 
work  of  the  day  closed,  the  main  committees  not 
being  ready  to  make  their  reports. 

Little  was  accomplished  in  this  day's  work,  so 
far  as  appeared  on  surface,  but  one  of  the  keenest 
and  most  experienced  of  the  observers  on  the 
floor  summed  up  the  situation  at  the  close,  thus  : 
"The  situation,  as  it  stands  to-night,  is  simple 
enough.  Elaine  is  stronger  than  any  individual 
candidate.  But  the  field  is  stronger  than  he. 
His  friends  will  stand  together,  and  when  the  field 
undertakes  to  make  combinations,  it  is  more  than 
likely  enough,  votes  will  slip  through  their  fingers 
to  give  the  needed  help  to  Elaine.  Kansas  will 
probably  give  him  eighteen  instead  of  thirteen, 
and  every  gain  of  five  votes  counts  ;  and  Ohio  is 
wavering,  so  far  as  John  Sherman  is  concerned. 
It  may  not  be  palatable,  but  two  and  two  must 
make  four,  and  if  the  problem  had  to  be  solved 
to-night,  Elaine  would  be  the  nominee." 

Early  in  the  proceedings  the  name  of  General 
W.  T.  Sherman  was  much  mentioned  in  connec 
tion  with  the  first  nomination,  but  the  old  warrior 
routed  this  combination  by  a  telegraphic  bomb  to 
this  effect : 

"  I  would  not  accept  the  nomination  if  tendered 
me.  I  would  not  serve  if  I  was  elected. 

"W.  T.  SHERMAN/' 


294  THE   CONVENTION. 

The  meetings  of  Thursday  opened  at  10.54 
A.  M.,  Bishop  Fallows,  of  the  Reformed  Episco- 
cal  Church,  leading  in  prayer,  after  which  a 
unanimous  report  from  the  Committee  on  Cre 
dentials  was  read  and  adopted.  Rules  of  order 
were  then  adopted,  somewhat  modifying  the 
former  methods  of  procedure,  and  the  platform 
was  presented  and  approved  amid  great  applause. 
An  adjournment  was  then  voted  until  7.30  P.  M., 
when  nominations  of  candidates  were  to  be 
made  as  the  special  order  of  business,  the  pre 
liminaries  now  having  been  completed. 


CHAPTER  II. 

PERSONELLE    OF   THE    CONVENTION. 

So  often  is  the  question  asked  as  to  the  mem 
bers  of  the  great  Conventions,  and  so  seldom  are 
accurate  lists  of  delegates  to  be  had,  that  the  per- 
sonelle  of  the  body  in  full  and  in  detail  is  here 
added. 

ALABAMA. 

At-Large.   George  Turner,  Montgomery. 

George  W.  Braxdall,  Talladega. 
Charles  C.  Sheats,  Decatur. 
Jesse  C.  Duke,  Selma. 

Districts.  I.  James  E.  Slaughter,  Mobile. 
Frank  H.  Threet,  Demopolis. 

2.  Paul  Strobach,  Montgomery. 
George  W.  Washington,  Montgomery. 

3.  Isaac  Heymad,  Opelika. 

William  Youngblood,  Union  Springs. 

4.  William  J.  Stevens,  Selma. 
Hugh  A.  Corson,  Haynesville. 

5.  Lewis  E.  Parsons,  Jr.,  Rockford. 
William  J.  Anthony,  La  Fayette. 

6.  Algernon  A.  Mabson,  Birmingham. 
Lewis  J.  Washington,  Tuscaloosa. 

7.  Robert  A.  Moseley,  Jr.  Talladega. 
Arthur  Bingham,  Talladega. 

8.  Augustus  W.  McCullough,  Huntsville. 
Peter  J.  Crenshaw,  Athens. 

295 


296  PERSONELLE  OF   THE   CONVENTION. 

ARKANSAS. 

At-Large.   Powell  Clayton,  Eureka  Springs. 

Logan  H.  Roots,  Little  Rock. 

M.  W.  Gibbs,  Little  Rock. 

Henry  M.  Cooper,  Little  Lock. 
Districts.  I.   Jacob  Trieber,  Helena. 

Samuel  H.  Holland,  Dermott 

2.  John  H.  Johnson,  Augusta. 
Ferd  Harris,  Pine  Bluff. 

3.  A.  A.  Tufts,  Camden. 

George  H.  Thompson,  Louisville. 

4.  Mason  W.  Benjamin,  Little  Rock. 
John  Yoes,  Mountainburg. 

5.  La  Fayette  Gregg,  Fayettevillc. 
Kidder  Kidd,  BentonvilU. 

CALIFORNIA. 

At-Large.  William  W.  Morrow,  San  Francisco. 

George  A.  Knight,  Eureka. 

Thomas  R.  Bard,  Huenma. 

Horace  Davis,  San  Francisco. 
Districts.  I.   Chauncey  C.  Bash,  Redding. 
B.  O.  Carr,  St.  Helena. 

2.  William  H.  Parks,  Marysville. 
George  W.  Schell,  Modesto. 

3.  William  Johnson,  Sacramento. 
Eli  S.  Dennison,  Oakland. 

4.  David  McClure,  San  Francisco. 
Charles  F.  Crocker,  San  Francisco. 

5.  Adolph  B.  Spreckels,  San  Francisco. 
Maurice  C.  Blake,  San  Francisco. 

6.  David  C.  Reed,  San  Diego. 
Oregon  Saunders,  Visalia. 

CONNECTICUT. 

At-Large.   Augustus  Brandegee,  New  London. 
Frederick  Miles,  Chapinville. 
Samuel  E.  Merwin,  Jr.,  New  Haven. 
John  L.  Houston,  Thompsonvillc. 


PERSONELLE    OF   THE    CONVENTION.  297 

Districts,  i.   Val.  B.  Chamberlain,  New  Britain. 
Ralph  P.  Gilbert,  Hebron. 

2.  Luzerne  I.  Munson,  Waterbury. 
John  G.  Edmonds,  Deep  River. 

3.  Eugene  S.  Boss,  Willimantic. 
Ira  G.  Briggs,  Voluntown. 

4.  Orsamus  R.  Filer,  Torrington. 
Ebenezer  J.  Hill,  Norwalk. 

COLORADO. 

At-Large.   S.  H.  Elbert,  Denver. 

B.  F.  Crowell,  Colorado  Springs. 
William  A.  Hammill,  Georgetown. 

C.  C.  Davis,  Leadville. 

A.  L.  Emigh,  Fort  Collins. 
Alexander  Gullet,  Gunnison. 

DELAWARE. 

At-Large.   Washington  Hastings,  Wilmington. 
John  Pilling,  Newark. 
George  V.  Massey,  Dover. 
Daniel  I.  Lay  ton,  Georgetown. 

District,  i.   John  H.  Hoffecker,  Smyrna. 
W.  J.  Stewart,  Seaford. 

FLORIDA. 

At-Large.   Dennis  Eagan,  Jacksonville. 
Joseph  E.  Lee,  Jacksonville. 
Jesse  D.  Cole,  Monticello. 
William  G.  Stewart,  Tallahassee. 

Districts,  i.  James  N.  Coombs,  Apalachicola. 

A.  C.  Lightborne,  Quincy. 
2.   W.  H.  Chandler,  Ocala. 
John  G.  Long,  St.  Augustine. 

1  GEORGIA. 

At-Large.   A.  E.  Buck,  Atlanta. 

W.  A.  Pledger,  Atlanta. 


298  PERSONELLE    OF    THE    CONVENTION, 

At-Large.    L.  M.  Pleasants,  Savannah. 
C.  D.  Forsythe,  Rome. 

Districts.   I.    A.  N.  Wilson,  Savannah. 
James  Blue,  Brunswick. 

2.  C.  W.  Arnold,  Albany. 
Caesar  Few,  Thomasville. 

3.  Elbert  Head,  Americus. 

E.  Seward  Small,  Eastman. 

4.  W.  H.  Johnson,  Atlanta. 
J.  C.  Beall,  La  Grange. 

5.  John  E.  Bryant,  Atlanta. 
W.  D.  Moore,  Atlanta. 

6.  W.  W.  Brown,  Macon. 
P.  O.  Holt,  Macon. 

7.  G.  P.  Burnett,  Rome. 

J.  Q.  Gassett,  Cartersville. 

8.  Mark  A.  Wood,  Madison. 
*    Madison  Davis,  Athens. 

9.  W.  T.  B.  Wilson,  Atlanta. 
James  B.  Gaston,  Gainesville. 

10.   W.  F.  Holden,  Augusta. 
R.  R.  Wright,  Augusta. 

ILLINOIS. 

At-Large.   Shelby  M.  Cullom,  Springfield. 
John  M.  Hamilton,  Bloomington 
Burton  C.  Cook,  Chicago. 
Clarke  E.  Carr,  Galesburg. 

Districts.  I.   J.  L.  Woodward,  Chicago. 
Abner  Taylor,  Chicago. 

2.  W.  H.  Ruger,  Chicago. 
C.  E.  Piper,  Chicago. 

Contestants.  W.  S.  Powell,  Chicago. 
W.  E.  Kent,  Chicago. 

3.  George  R.  Davis,  Chicago. 
J.  R.  Wheeler,  Chicago. 

4.  Samuel  B.  Raymond,  Chicago. 
L.  C.  Collins,  Jr.,  Norwood  Park. 


PERSONELLE    OF   THE    CONVENTION.  299 

.    5.   L.  M.  Kelly,  Elgin. 

C.  E.  Fuller,  Belvidere. 

6.  Norman  Lewis,  Thomson. 
O.  C.  Town,  Pecatonica. 

7.  I.  G.  Baldwin,  Yorkville. 
Henry  T.  Noble,  Dixon. 

8.  R.  W.  Willett,  Yorkville. 
A.  J.  Bell,  Napierville. 

9.  S.  T.  Rogers,  El  Paso. 
Thomas  Vennum,  Watseka. 

10.  W.  W.  Wright,  Toulon. 
R.  H.  Whiting,  Peoria. 

11.  C.  V.  Chandler,  Macomb. 
C.  A.  Ballard,  New  Boston. 

12.  A.  C.  Mathews,  Pittsfield. 
W.  W.  Berry,  Quincy. 

13.  Dr.  William  Jayne,  Springfield. 
Dietrich  C.  Smith,  Pekin. 

14.  J.  W.  Fifer,  Bloomington. 
George  G.  Ingham,  Clinton. 

15.  Charles  G.  Eckhart,  Tuscola. 
L.  S.  Wilcox,  Champaign. 

16.  Charles  Churchill,  Albion. 
Harrison  Black,  Marshall. 

17.  John  I.  Rinaker,  Carlinville. 
J.  M.  Truitt,  Hillsboro. 

18.  R.  A.  Halbert,  Belleville. 
H.  F.  Reuter,  Nashville. 

19.  T.  S.  Ridgway,  Shawneetown. 
C.  T.  Stratton,  Mt.  Vernon. 

20.  F.  M.  Simpson,  Vienna. 
William  McAdams,  Chester. 


INDIANA. 

At-Large.   Richard  W.  Thompson,  Terre  Haute. 
Benjamin  Harrison,  Indianapolis. 
John  H.  Baker,  Goshen. 
Morris  McDonald,  New  Albany. 


3OO  PERSONELLE    OF    THE    CONVENTION, 

Districts.   I.   James  C.  Veatch,  Rockport. 
Francis  B.  Posey,  Petersburg. 

2.  George  C.  Reilly,  Vincennes. 
William  R.  Gardner,  Washington. 

3.  D.  M.  Alspaugh,  Salem. 
Albert  P.  Charles,  Seymour. 

4.  John  O.  Cravens,  Osgood. 
Eugene  G.  Hay,  Madison. 

5.  Joseph  I.  Irwin,  Columbus. 
W.  A.  Montgomery,  Spencer. 

6.  Charles  H.  Burchenal,  Richmond. 
Joshua  H.  Mellett,  New  Castle. 

7.  L.  T.  Michener,  Shelbyville. 
Henry  C.  Adams,  Indianapolis. 

8.  William  C.  Smith,  Williamsport. 
William  R.  McKeen,  Terre  Haute. 

9.  George  B.  Williams,  La  Fayette. 
Americus  C.  Dailey,  Lebanon. 

10.  Simon  P.  Thompson,  Rensselaer. 
George  W.  Holman,  Rochester. 

11.  James  B.  Kenner,  Huntington. 
Jonas  Votaw,  Portland. 

12.  Oscar  S.  Simons,  Fort  Wayne. 
i  Orville  Carter,  Angola. 

13.  Joseph  D.  Oliver,  South  Bend, 
George  Moon,  Warsaw. 

IOWA. 

At-Large.   J.  S.  Clarkson,  Des  Moines. 

W.  G.  Dorman,  Independence. 

J.  Y.  Stone,  Glenwood. 

N.  M.  Hubbard,  Cedar  Rapids. 

Districts,  i.    D.  A.  Morrison,  Fort  Madison. 

William  Wilson,  Jr.,  Washington. 

2.  John  Hilsinger,  Sabula. 
W.  T.  Shaw,  Anamosa. 

3.  H.  C.  Memenway,  Cedar  Falls. 
W.  H.  Norris,  Manchester. 


PERSONELLE    OF    THE    CONVENTION.  301 

Districts.   4.   A.  G.  Stewart,  Waukon. 
O.  H.  Lyon,  Rockford. 

5.  J.  W.  Willett,  Tama  City. 
Merritt  Green,  Marshalltown. 

6.  H.  S.  Winslow,  Newton, 
Calvin  Manning,  Ottumwa. 

7.  C.  H.  Gatch,  Des  Moines. 

E.  W.  Meeks,  Guthrie  Centre. 

8.  W.  H.  Christie,  Chester. 
W.  W.  Wilson,  Osceola. 

9.  E.  A.  Consigny,  Avoca. 
T.  M.  C.  Logan,  Logan. 

10.  R.  S.  Benson,  Hampton. 
C.  C.  Mason,  Boone. 

11.  J.  B.  Funk,  Spirit  Lake. 
J.  D.  Ainsworth,  Oran. 

KANSAS. 

At-Large.    P.  B.  Plumb,  Washington,  D.  C. 

J.  B.  Merritt,  Wamego. 

J.  A.  Wood,  Wellington. 

A.  W.  Mann,  Jewell  City. 
Districts.  I.    H.  E.  Insley,  Leavenworth. 
C.  Leland,  Troy. 

2.  R.  Aikman,  Fort  Scott. 
J.  B.  Root,  Wyandotte. 

3.  George  R.  Peck,  Topeka. 
William  Martindale,  Madison. 

4.  J.  W.  Addy,  Newton. 

A.  J.  Hoisington,  Great  Bend. 

5.  C.  E.  Culp,  Salina, 

E.  A.  Berry,  Marysville. 

6.  J.  R.  Hallowell,  Columbus. 
W.  P.  Hackney,  Winfield. 

7.  J.  S.  McDowell,  Smith  Centre. 
C.  C.  Woods,  Rooks  Centre. 

KENTUCKY. 

At-Large.  Walter  Evans,  Washington,  D.  C. 
William  O.  Bradley,  Lancaster. 


3O2  PERSONELLE    OF    THE    CONVENTION, 

At-Large.   William  W.  Culberson,  Ashland. 
John  W.  Lewis,  Springfield. 

Districts.   I.    Edwin  Farley,  Owensborough. 
P.  C.  Bragg,  Mayfield. 

2.  J.  Z.  Moore,  Owensborough. 
James  J.  Landis,  Hopkinsville. 

3.  W.  L.  Hazslip,  Glasgow  Junction. 
Allen  Allensworth,  Bowling  Green. 

4.  G".  P.  Jolly,  Cloverport. 
Edward  Hilpp,  Lebanon. 

5.  Silas  F.  Miller,  Louisville. 
John  Mason  Brown,  Louisville. 

6.  Davie  N.  Comingove,  Covington. 
James  A.  Scarlett,  Newport. 

7.  William  Cassius  Goodloe,  Lexington. 
Richard  P.  Stoll,  Lexington. 

8.  Robert  Boyd,  London. 
George  Denny,  Jr.,  Lancaster. 

9.  George  M.  Thomas,  Vanceburg. 
T.  S.  Bradford,  Augusta. 

10.  Andrew  J.  Auxier,  Louisville. 
J.  C.  Eversole,  Hazard. 

11.  R.  A.  Buckner,  Greensburg. 
H.  G.  Tremble,  Somerset. 

LOUISIANA. 

At-Large.   William  P.  Kellogg,  Washington. 
A.  J.  Dumont,  New  Orleans. 
P.  B.  S.  Pinchback,  New  Orleans. 
A.  S.  Badger,  New  Orleans. 

Districts.  I.   W.  B.  Merchant,  New  Orleans. 
R.  F.  Guichard,  New  Orleans. 

2.  P.  F.  Heonig,  New  Orleans. 
Henry  Demas,  Edgar. 

3.  George  Drury,  Napoleonville. 
L.  A.  Martinet,  St.  Martin. 

4.  A.  H.  Leonard,  Shreveport. 
William  Harper,  Shreveport. 


PERSONELLE    OF   THE    CONVENTION.  303 

Districts.  5.    Frank  Morey,  Washington. 

E.  W.  Wall,  Vidalia. 
6.    Louis  J.  Souer,  Marksville. 
Clifford  Morgan,  New  Roads. 

MAINE. 

At-Large.   Josiah  H.  Drummond,  Portland. 

George  C.  Wing,  Auburn. 

Joseph  R.  Bodwell,  Hallowell. 

Joseph  S.  Wheelwright,  Bangor. 
Districts,  i.   Albion  Little,  Portland. 

Charles  B.  Hussey,  Biddeford. 

2.  Amos  F.  Crockett,  Rockland. 
Ruel  B.  Fuller,  East  Wilton. 

3.  J.  Manchester  Haynes,  Augusta. 
Andrew  J.  Wiswell,  Augusta. 

4.  Austin  Harris,  East  Machias. 
Elbridge  A.  Thompson,  Dover. 

MARYLAND. 

At-Large.   Hart  B.  Holton,  Washington,  D.  C. 

Thomas  S.  Hodson,  Crisfield. 

Lycurgus  N.  Phillips,  Mechanicstown. 

James  Wallace,  Cambridge. 
Districts,  i.   Charles  T.  Westcott,  Chestertown. 
James  C.  Mulliken,  Easton. 

2.  John  T.  Ensor,  Towson. 

H.  M.  Clabaugh,  Westminster. 

3.  D.  Pinkney  West,  Baltimore. 
William  Coath,  Baltimore. 

4.  James  W.  Jordan,  Baltimore. 
Henry  W.  Rogers,  Baltimore. 

Contestants.   Lewis  G.  Martin,  Baltimore. 
W.  C.  Clay,  Baltimore. 

5.  James  A.  Gary,  Baltimore. 
William  D.  Green,  Washington,  D.  C. 

6.  J.  McPherson  Scott,  Hagerstown. 
George  L.  Wellington,  Cumberland. 


304  PERSONELLE    OF    THE    CONVENTION. 

MASSACHUSETTS. 

At-Large.   George  F.  Hoar,  Worcester. 

William  W.  Crapo,  New  Bedford. 
John  D.  Long,  Hingham. 
Henry  Cabot  Lodge,  Nahant. 

Districts,  i.  Jonathan  Bourne,  New  Bedford. 
Frank  S.  Stevens,  Swansea. 

2.  Frank  M.  Ames,  Canton. 
Eben  L.  Ripley,  Hingham. 

3.  Henry  P.  Kidder,  Boston. 
Edward  L.  Pierce,  Milton. 

4.  Jesse  M.  Gove,  Boston. 
Charles  T.  Gallagher,  Boston. 

5.  Ephraim  Stearnes,  Waltham. 
John  T.  Andrew,  Boston. 

6.  Amos  F.  Breed,  Lynn. 
Carroll  D.  Wright,  Reading. 

7.  Edward  H.  Haskell,  Gloucester. 
George  W.  Cate,  Amesbury. 

8.  Frederick  T.  Greenhalge,  Lowell. 
Andrew  C.  Stone,  Lawrence. 

9.  Joseph  G.  Ray,  Lawrence. 
Robert  R.  Bishop,  Newton. 

10.  William  W.  Rice,  Worcester. 
Theodore  C.  Bates,  North  Brookfield. 

11.  Chester  C.  Conant,  Greenfield. 
Rodney  Wallace,  Fitchburg. 

12.  Henry  S.  Hyde,  Springfield. 
Levi  L.  Brown,  Adams. 

MICHIGAN. 

At-Large.   Roswell  G.  Horr,  Saginaw. 

William  F.  Swift,  Ishpeming. 
Samuel  C.  Watson,  Detroit. 
Julius  C.  Burrows,  Kalamazoo. 

Districts.  I .   Russell  A.  Alger,  Detroit. 
W.  S,  Morey,  Flat  Rock. 


PERSONELLE    OF   THE    CONVENTION.  305 

Districts.  2.   W.  A.  Underwood,  Adrian. 

Joseph  T.  Jacobs,  Ann  Arbor. 

3.  Edward  C.  Nichols,  Battle  Creek. 
William  H.  Powers,  Hastings. 

4.  S.  T.  Reed,  Cassaopolis. 
Josiah  Andrews,  Paw  Paw. 

5.  George  W.  Webber,  Ionia. 
H.  F.  Thomas,  Allegan. 

6.  M.  D.  Chatterton,  Mason. 
J.  E.  Sawyer,  Pontiac. 

7.  John  B.  Sanborn,  Port  Huron. 
R.  B.  Noble,  Lexington. 

8.  W.  S.  Tuck,  St.  Louis. 
W.  E.  Watson,  Bancroft. 

9.  M.  P.  Gale,  Big  Rapids. 
Abel  Anderson,  Muskegon. 

10.  H.  H.  Alpin,  West  Bay  City. 
George  W.  Bell,  Cheboygan. 

11.  S.  C.  Moffatt,  Grand  Traverse. 
S.  M.  Stevenson,  Menominee. 


MINNESOTA. 

At-Large.   Dwight  M.  Sabin,  Washington. 
Cushman  K.  Davis,  St.  Paul. 
C.  H.  Graves,  Duluth. 
O.  B.  Gould,  Winona. 

Districts,  i.   Thomas  H.  Armstrong,  Albert  Lea. 
C.  H.  Conky,  Preston. 

2.  A.  M.  Crosby,  Adrian. 
L.  Z.  Rogers,  Waterville. 

3.  E.  V.  Canfield,  Zunibrota. 
Liberty  Hall,  Glencoe. 

4.  Robert  B.  Langdon,  Minneapolis. 
Stanford  Newell,  St.  Paul. 

5.  Alphonso  Barto,  Sauk  Centre. 
Henry  G.  Page,  Fergus  Falls. 

Contestants.  J.  V.  Brower. 

G.  W.  Johnson. 


306  PERSONELLE    OF   THE    CONVENTION. 

MISSISSIPPI. 

At-Large.   Blanche  K.  Bruce,  Washington,  D.  C. 
James  Hill,  Jackson. 
R.  F.  Beck,  Vicksburg. 
J.  M.  Bynum,  Rienzi. 

Districts,  i.   H.  C.  Powers,  Starkville. 

W.  H.  Kennon,  Columbus. 

2.  John  S.  Burton,  Holly  Springs. 
D.  T.  J.  Matthews,  Sardis. 

3.  W.  H.  Allen,  Friar's  Point. 
Wesley  Creighton,  Vicksburg. 

4.  H.  H.  Harrington,  West  Point. 
J.  W.  Longstreet,  Macon. 

5.  F.  C.  Cranberry,  Lexington. 
William  W.  Hancock,  Meridian. 

6.  John  R.  Lynch,  Natchez. 
C.  A.  Simpson,  Scranton. 

7.  Thomas  Richardson,  Port  Gibson. 
John  A.  Galbreath,  Jackson. 

MISSOURI. 

At-Large.   Robert  T.  Van  Horn,  Kansas  City. 
Harrison  E.  Havens,  Springfield. 
Benjamin  M.  Prentiss,  Bethany. 
John  B.  Henderson,  St.  Louis. 

Districts,   i.    Robert  D.  Creamer,  Memphis. 
James  T.  Barber,  Hannibal. 

2.  Joseph  H.  Turner,  Carrollton. 
Alexander  W.  Mullens,  Linneus. 

3.  Ira  B.  Hyde,  Princeton. 
James  H.  Thomas,  Plattsburg. 

4.  Q.  C.  Hill,  Oregon. 

A.  C.  Daws,  St.  Joseph. 

5.  William  Warner,  Kansas  City. 
John  B.  Jones,  Aullville. 

6.  Odon  Guitar,  Columbia. 
William  S,  Shirk,  Sedalia. 


PERSONELLE    OF    THE    CONVENTION.  307 

Districts.  7.   M.  J.  Reynolds,  Louisiana. 

Theodore  Brewer,  St.  Charles. 

8.  Henry  C.  Neyer,  St.  Louis. 
John  C.  Bensick,  St.  Louis. 

9.  Chauncey  I.  Filley,  St.  Louis. 
James  H.  McLean,  St.  Louis. 

10.  Frederick  W.  Mott,  St.  Louis. 
Kossuth  W.  Weber,  Farmington. 

11.  Eben  B.  Sankey,  Salem. 
Edward  Neuenhahn,  Harrman. 

12.  Charles  G.  Burton,  Nevada. 
William  D.  Tyler,  Clinton. 

13.  Joseph  B.  Upton,  Bolivar. 
Norman  Gibbs,  Mt.  Vernon. 

14.  Alonzo  B.  Carroll,  Cape  Girardeau. 
Byrd  Dunkling,  Poplar  Bluffs. 

NEBRASKA. 

At-Large.   John  M.  Thurston,  Omaha. 

Nathan  S.  Harwood,  Lincoln. 

John  Jenson,  Geneva. 

George  A.  Brooks,  Bazile  Mills. 

Districts,  i .   Eugene  L.  Reed,  Weeping  Water. 
Church  Howe,  Auburn. 

2.  William  T.  Scott,  York. 
George  W.  Burton,  Orleans. 

3.  Charles  P.  Mathewson,  Norfolk. 
John  H.  McCall,  Plum  Creek. 

NEVADA. 

At-Large.   C.  C.  Stevenson,  Gold  Hill. 
M.  D.  Foley,  Eureka. 
J.  H.  Rand,  Elko. 
John  E.  Dixon,  Tuscarora. 
S.  L.  Lee,  Carson  City. 
C,  J,  Blair,  Pioche, 


308  PERSONELLE    OF    THE    CONVENTION, 

NEW  HAMPSHIRE. 

At-Large.   Charles  H.  Sawyer,  Dover. 

George  H.  Stowell,  Claremont. 
Edward  H.  Rollins,  Concord. 
Joseph  B.  Clark,  Manchester. 

Districts,  i.   Charles  D.  McDuffie,  Manchester. 

Warren  Brown,  Hampton  Falls. 
2.    Frank  D.  Currier,  Canaan. 
Henry  B.  Atherton,  Nashua. 

NEW  JERSEY. 

At-Large.   William  Walter  Phelps,  Teaneck. 
William  J.  Sewell,  Camden. 
John  J.  Gardiner,  Atlantic  City. 
J.  Frank  Fort,  Newark. 

Districts,  i    Isaac  T.  Nichols,  Bridgeton. 

Thomas  B.  Harned,  Camden. 

2.  William  H.  Skein,  Trenton. 
Maylon  Hutchinson,  Bordentown. 

3.  John  W.  Herbert,  Wickatunk. 
James  R.  English,  Elizabeth. 

4.  John  I.  Blair,  Blairstown. 
William  H.  Long,  Somerville. 

5.  William  H.  Howell,  Morristown. 
Watts  Cook,  Paterson. 

6.  Herman  Lehback,  Newark. 
William  Riker,  Newark. 

7.  James  Gopsill,  Jersey  City. 
John  Ramsey,  Jersey  City. 

NEW  YORK. 

At-Large.  Theodore  Roosevelt,  New  York. 
Andrew  D.  White,  Ithaca. 
John  I.  Gilbert,  Malone. 
Edwin  Packard,  Brooklyn. 


PERSONELLE    OF     THE    CONVENTION.  309 

Districts,    i.   George  William  Curtis,  West  New  Brighton. 
John  M.  Crane,  Jamaica. 

2.  E.  H.  Hobbs,  1 10  Kingston  avenue,  Brooklyn. 
S.  B.  Dutcher,  Brooklyn. 

3.  A.  D.  Baird,  cor.  Myrtle  ave  and  Keap  St.,  Brooklyn 
G.  L.  Pease,  325  Clinton  avenue,  Brooklyn. 

4.  W.  H.  Beard,  287  President  street,  Brooklyn. 
M.  N.  Day,  62  Hanson  place,  Brooklyn. 

5.  C.  D.  Rhinehart,  179  Meserole  avenue,  Brooklyn. 
G.  C.  Rennett,  16  Magnolia  street,  Brooklyn. 

6.  John  J.  O'Brien,  120  Forsyth  street,  New  York. 
John  H.  Brady,  39  King  street,  New  York. 

Contestants.   George  B.  Deane,  Sr.,  New  York. 
Frederick  S.  Gibbs,  New  York. 

7.  J.  D.  Lawson,  Brevoort  House,  New  York. 
Charles  N.  Taintor,  135  E.  i8th  street,  New  York. 

8.  Robert  G.  McCord,  45  W.  22d  street,  New  York. 
John  Collins,  135  Henry  street,  New  York. 

9.  J.  M.  Patterson,  152  Stanton  street,  New  York. 
George  Hilliard,  741  Fifth  street,  New  York. 

10.  B.  Biglin,  341  Lexington  avenue,  New  York. 
Michael  Cregan,  Ashland  House,  New  York. 

11.  Anson  G.  McCook,  Washington,  D.  C. 

J.  R.  Lydecker,  309  W.  33d  street,  New  York. 

12.  E.  Stevenson,  215  E.  62d  street,  New  York. 
William  Dowd,  30  W.  $2d  street,  New  York. 

13.  F.  Raymond,  338  E.  I2oth  street,  New  York. 
J.  A.  Eagleson,  221  E.  ii8th  street,  New  York. 

14.  William  H.  Robertson,  Katonah. 
James  W.  Husted,  Peekskill. 

15.  Benjamin  B.  Odell,  Newburg. 
David  J.  Blauvelt,  Nyack. 

16.  B.  Platt  Carpenter,  Poughkeepsie. 
Hamilton  Fish,  Jr.,  Garrisons. 

17.  Thomas  Cornell,  Rondout. 
Duncan  Ballantine,  Andes. 

18.  Martin  I.  Townsend,  Troy. 
H.  G.  Burleigh,  Whitehall. 

19.  George  Campbell,  Cohoes. 
Hiram  Griggs,  Knowersville, 

19 


3IO  PERSONELLE    OF     THE    CONVENTION. 

Contestants.   James  Lamb,  Cohoes. 

James  A.  Houck,  Albany. 
20.   George  West,  Ballston  Spa. 

John  Kellogg,  Amsterdam. 
2r   John  Hammond,  Crown  Point. 

George  Chahoon,  Ausable  Forks. 

22.  Leslie  W.  Russell,  Canton. 
George  A.  Bagley,  Watertown. 

23.  W.  E.  Scripture,  Rome. 
A.  M.  Lanpher,  Lowville. 

24.  Hobart  Krum,  Schoharie. 
Titus  Sheard,  Little  Falls. 

25.  Carrol  E.  Smith,  Syracuse. 
Henry  L.  Duguid,  Syracuse. 

26.  Thomas  C.  Platt,  Owego. 
Milton  Delano,  Canastota. 

27.  D.  M.  Osborne,  Auburn. 
T.  A.  Youmans,  Walworth. 

28.  Jeremiah  W.  Dwight,  Dryden. 
W.  L.  Smith,  Elmira. 

29.  George  R.  Cornwell,  Penn  Yan. 
Stephen  T.  Hoyt,  Corning. 

30.  Leonard  Barrett,  Spencerport. 
H.  H.  Warner,  Rochester. 

31.  James  W.  Wadsworth,  Geneseo. 
Edmund  L.  Pitts,  Medina. 

32.  James  D.  Warren,  Buffalo. 
Josiah  Jewett,  Buffalo. 

33.  George  Urban,  Jr.,  Buffalo. 
Lee  R.  Sanborn,  Sanborn. 

34.  Norman  M.  Allen,  Dayton. 
Frank  S.  Smith,  Angelica. 


NORTH  CAROLINA. 

At-Large.   J.  J.  Mott,  Statesville. 

W.  S.  Dockery,  Mangum. 

J.  H.  Harris,  Raleigh. 

J.  E.  O'Hara,  Washington,  D.  C. 


PERSONELLE    OF     THE    CONVENTION. 

Districts,  i.   J.  B.  Hill,  Raleigh. 

E.  A.  White,  Belvidere. 

2.  J.  C.  Dancey,  Raleigh. 
I.  J.  Young,  Raleigh. 

3.  L.  W.  Humphrey,  Goldsboro. 
John  S.  Leary,  Fayetteville. 

4.  Charles  D.  Upchurch.  Raleigh. 
John  Williamson,  Louisburg. 

5.  Thomas  B.  Keogh,  Greensboro. 
P.  H.  Winslow,  Jr.,  Winston. 

6.  W.  H.  Bynum. 

E.  J.  Pennybacher. 

Contestants.    William  S.  Dockery. 
George  L.  Mabson. 

7.  J.  J.  Mott. 

A.  S.  Richardson. 

Contestants.    H.  C.  Crowles.     , 
James  Henderson. 

8.  W.  L.  Pearson,  Morgantown. 
L.  L.  Green,  Boone. 

9.  John  B.  Eaves,  Rutherfordtown. 
T.  J.  Candler,  Asheville. 


OHIO. 

At-Large.   J.  B.  Foraker,  Cincinnati. 

William  McKinley,  Jr.,  Canton. 
Mark  A.  Hanna,  Cleveland. 
William  H.  West,  Bellefontaine. 

Districts,  i.   Benjamin  Eggleston,  Cincinnati. 
William  B.  Smith,  Cincinnati. 

2.  Amor  Smith,  Jr.,  Cincinnati. 
Charles  Fleishman,  Cincinnati. 

3.  Henry  L.  Morey,  Hamilton. 
M.  J.  W.  Holter,  Batavia. 

4.  S.  Craighead,  Dayton. 
A.  R.  Burkett,  Troy. 


312  PERSONELLE    OF     THE    CONVENTION. 

Districts.   5.   James  S.  Robinson,  Kenton. 

Joseph  Morris,  Lima. 
6.'  Albert  M.  Pratt,  Bryan. 
J.  N.  High,  Napoleon. 

7.  R.  W.  McMahon,  Bowling  Green. 
W.  C.  Lemert,  Bucyrus. 

8.  Oscar  T.  Martin,  Springfield. 
G.  M.  Eichelberger,  Urbana. 

9.  Thomas  E.  Duncan,  Mt.  Gilead. 
John  F.  Locke,  London. 

10.  C.  L.  Luce,  Toledo. 
John  B.  Rice,  Fremont. 

11.  Alphonso  Hart,  Hillsborough. 
Charles  W.  Boyd,  Levanna. 

12.  O.  B.  Gould,  Portsmouth. 
A.  S.  Bundy,  Wellston. 

13.  C.  D.  Firestone,  Columbus. 
C.  E.  Groce,  Circleville. 

14.  William  J.  Shriver,  New  Lexington. 
Austin  W.  Vorhes,  Pomeroy. 

15.  H.  C.  Van  Vorhes,  Pomeroy. 
E.  L.  Lybarger,  Coshocton. 

16.  E.  G.  Johnson,  Elmyra. 
W.  L.  Sewell,  Mansfield. 

17.  Charles  H.  Baltzell,  Bellaire. 
M.  R.  Patterson,  Cambridge. 

18.  C.  H.  Andrews,  Youngstown. 
William  Monaghan,  New  Lisbon. 

19.  E.  L.  Lampson,  Jefferson. 
J.  O.  Converse,  Chardon. 

20.  A.  L.  Conger,  Akron. 
T.  D.  Loomis,  Lodi. 

21.  Edwin  Cowles,  Cleveland. 
A.  C.  Hord,  Cleveland. 


OREGON. 

At-Large.   Joseph  N.  Dolph,  Washington,  D.  C, 
John*T.  Apperson,  Oregon  City. 


PERSONELLE    OF     THE    CONVENTION.  313 

At-Large.   W.  J.  McConnell,  North  Yam  Hill. 
John  W.  Swift,  Baker  City. 
A.  G.  Hovey,  Eugene  City. 
O.  M.  Denny,  Portland. 


PENNSYLVANIA. 


A.t-Large.   James  McManes,  Philadelphia. 
Hamilton  Disston,  Philadelphia. 
P.  L.  Kimberly,  Sharon. 
J.  W.  Lee,  Franklin. 
Lewis  Emery,  Jr.  Bradford. 
W.  H.  Jessup,  Montrose. 

Districts,   i.   General  H.  H.  Bingham,  Philadelphia. 
William  J.  Pollock,  Philadelphia. 

2.  W.  R.  Leeds,  246  N.  loth  street,  Philadelphia. 
D.  H.  Lane,  1400  N.  I3th  street,  Philadelphia. 

3.  Samuel  B.  Gilpin,  Philadelphia. 

Harry  Hunter,  723  S.  I2th  street,  Philadelphia. 

4.  Alex.  Crowe,  Jr.,  2112  Spring  Garden  St.,  Phila. 
W.  E.  Rowan,  3632  Market  street,  Philadelphia. 

5.  John  T.  Thompson,  2800  Frankford  ave.  Phila. 
John  Ruhl,  2242  Frankford  Road,  Philadelphia. 

6.  B.  Fisher,  Schuylkill. 
Richard  Young,  Morton. 

7.  Robert  M.  Yardley,  Doylestown. 
J.  P.  Hale  Jenkins,  Norristown. 

8.  Samuel  R.  Deppen,  Robesonia  Furnaces. 
F.  S.  Livengood,  Reading. 

9.  Edwin  Reimhold,  Marietta. 
Lewis  S.  Hartman,  Lancaster. 

10.  Samuel  Thomas,  Catasauqua. 
William  S.  Kirkpatrick,  Easton. 

11.  James  Cruikshank,  Danville. 
James  C.  Brown,  Bloomsburg. 

12.  Hubbard  B.  Payne,  Wilkesbarre. 
Henry  M,  Boies,  Scranton. 


3H  PERSONELLE    OF     THE    CONVENTION. 

Dist's.      13.   J.  A.  M.  Passmore,  Pottsville. 

J.  Y.  Sollenberger,  Mahanoy  City 

14.  Horace  Brock,  Lebanon. 
Jacob  H.  Wagner,  Watsontown. 

15.  F.  F.  Lyon,  Barclay. 
G.  A.  Grow,  Glenwood. 

1 6.  E.  G.  Schieffelin,  Stokesdale. 
C.  W.  Hill,  Williamsport. 

17.  Daniel  J.  Morrell,  Johnstown. 
Edward  Scull,  Somerset. 

1 8.  John  Stewart,  Chambersburg. 

S.  E.  Duffield,  McConnellsburg. 

19.  William  H.  Lanius,  York. 
Jacob  A.  Kintzmiller,  Gettysburg. 

20.  E.  A.  Ervin,  Curwensville. 
Thomas  C.  Thornton,  Lewisburg. 

21.  J.  K.  Ewing,  Uniontown. 
John  F^Wentling,  Greensburg. 

22.  C.  L.  Magee,  Pittsburg. 
William  Flynn,  Pittsburg. 

23.  Thomas  M.  Bayne,  Allegheny  City. 
E.  M.  Byers,  Allegheny  City. 

24.  E.  K.  Acheson,  Washington. 
John  W.  Wallace,  New  Castle. 

25.  J.  B.  Henderson,  Brookville. 
H.  C.  Howard,  Indiana. 

26.  T.  C.  Cochran,  Sheakleyville. 
W.  H.  H.  Riddle,  Butler. 

27.  E.  W.  Echols,  Franklin. 
Joseph  Johnson,  Erie. 


RHODE  ISLAND. 


At-Large.   Gorham  P.  Pomeroy,  Providence. 
Frank  M.  Bates,  Pawtucket. 
Ellery  H.  Wilson,  Rumford. 
Daniel  G.  Littlefield,  Central  Falls. 


PERSONELLE    OF     THE    CONVENTION. 

Districts.  I.   William  A.  Steadman,  Newport. 
John  C.  Barrington,  Barrington. 
2.   Thomas  C.  Peckham,  Coventry. 
Albert  L.  Chester,  Westerly. 


315 


SOUTH  CAROLINA. 

At-Large.   Robert  Smalls,  Beaufort. 
W.  N.  Taft,  Charleston. 
E.  M.  Bray  ton,  Columbia. 
Samuel  Lee,  Sumter. 

Districts,  i.   J.  M.  Freeman,  Charleston. 
E.  H.  Webster,  Orangeburg. 

2.  Paris  Simpkins,  Edgefield. 
S.  E.  Smith,  Aiken. 

3.  E.  F.  Blodgett,  Oconee. 
R.  W.  Boone,  Newberry. 

4.  C.  M.  Wilder,  Columbia. 
Wilson  Cook,  Greenville. 

5.  C.  C.  McCoy,  Chester. 
E.  H.  Dibble,  Kershaw. 

6.  E.  H.  Deas,  Darlington. 
T.  D.  Corbin,  Charleston. 

7.  T.  B.  Johnston,  Sumter. 

W.  H.  Thompson,  Berkeley. 


TENNESSEE. 


At-Large.   W.  P.  Brownlow,  Jonesborough. 
L.  C.  Houk,  Knoxville. 
J.  C.  Napier,  Nashville. 
T.  F.  Cassells,  Memphis. 

Districts,  i.   A.  H.  Pettibone,  Greenville. 

John  W.  Brown,  Rogersville. 
2.   W.  C.  Chandler,  Sevierville. 
W.  C.  Chumlea,  Marysville. 


3l6  PERSONELLE    OF     THE    CONVENTION. 

Districts.  3.    H.  F.  Griscom,  Chattanooga. 
F.  V.  Brown,  Jasper. 

4.  B.  W.  Burford,  Carthage. 
John  Pruitt,  Gallatin. 

5.  W.  Y.  Elliott,  Murfreesboro. 
W.  M.  Ekin,  Lewisburg. 

6.  H.  L.  W.  Cheatham,  Nashville. 
B.  J.  Hadley,  Nashville. 

7.  A.  M.  Hughes,  Jr.,  Columbia. 
Richard  Harris,  Pulaski. 

8.  S.  W.  Hawkins,  Huntington. 
J.  C.  Watson.,  Jackson. 

9.  M.  E.  Bell,  Dresden. 

S.  A.  McElwee,  Brownsville. 
10.    Carter  Harris,  Memphis. 
James  H.  Smith,  Memphis. 


TEXAS. 

At-Large.  C.  C.  Brinkley,  Sherman. 
Robert  Seapp,  Lagrange. 
M.  W.  Cuney,  Galveston. 
Richard  Allen,  Houston. 

Districts,  i.    R.  J.  Evans,  Navasota. 
J.  Greene. 

2.  A.  Burkhardt,  Anderson  County. 
H.  L.  Davis,  Freestone  County. 

3.  Webster  Flanigan,  Henderson. 
Simon  Bergt,  Canton. 

4.  A.  G.  Mallory,  Galveston. 

Contestant.     Henry  Carter,  Jefferson. 
R.  Taylor. 

5.  Q.  T.  Lyons,  Sherman. 

R.  S.  Cleaves,  Gainesville. 

6.  John  S.  Witmer,  Dallas. 
J.  C.  Ackers,  Hillsboro. 

7.  L.  W.  Renfrew,  Brownsville. 
M.  R.  Ferguson,  Richmond. 


PERSONELLE    OF    THE    CONVENTION, 


317 


Districts.  8.    Henry  Green. 

A.  J.  Rosenthal,  Lagrange. 
9.   Nathan  Patton,  Palestine. 
Henry  Blount,  Brenham. 

10.  J.  C.  Degress,  Austin. 

L.  Hanschke,  San  Antonio. 

11.  P.  Campbell,  El  Paso. 

J.  McConnell,  Jacksboro. 


VERMONT. 

At-Large.   Gregory  Smith,  St.  Albans. 
Redfield  Proctor,  Rutland. 
Frederick  Billings,  Woodstock. 
Broughton  D.  Harris,  Brattleborough. 

Districts.  I.   Alonzo  B.  Valentine,  Bennington. 

Henry  Ballard,  Burlington. 
2.   B.  Frank  Fifield,  Montpelier. 

Truman  C.  Fletcher,  St.  Johnsbury. 

VIRGINIA. 


At-Large.  William  Mahone,  Petersburg,  Washington,  D.  C. 
James  D.  Brady,  Petersburg. 
S.  F.  Blair,  Richmond. 
L.  M.  Yost,  Staunton. 
W.  H.  Pleasants,  Danville. 
A.  A.  Dodson,  Clarksville. 

Districts,  i.    Duff  Green,  Falmouth. 
L.  R.  Steward,  Warsaw. 

2.  Harry  Libbey,  Washington,  D.  C. 
Jordan  Thompson,  Suffolk. 

3.  N.  C.  Elam,  Richmond. 

J.  Anderson  Taylor,  Richmond. 

4.  W.  E.  Games,  Burkeville. 
A.  W.  Harris,  Petersburg. 


3l8  PERSONELLE    OF     THE    CONVENTION. 

Districts.  5.   William  E.  Sims,  Chatham. 
Winfield  Scott,  Floyd  C.  H. 

6.  James  A.  Frazier,  Lexington. 
J.  M.  McLaughlin,  Lynchburg. 

7.  L.  S.  Walker,  Woodstock. 
J.  L.  Dunn,  Nortonsville. 

8.  R.  L.  Mitchell,  Alexandria. 
Thomas  G.  Popham,  Slate  Mills. 

9.  H.  C.  Wood,  Estillville. 
D.  F.  Houston,  Roanoke. 


STRAIGHTOUTS. 


At-Large.   John  F.  Dezendorf. 
B.  B.  Botts. 
William  C.  Wickham. 
H.  C.  Parsons. 
J.  M.  Dawson. 
William  H.  Lester. 

Districts,     i.   S.  P.  Gresham. 

Nathaniel  Schroeder. 

2.  J.  Callahan. 
John  Carey. 

3.  Otis  H.  Russell. 
Lazarus  Bibb. 

4.  B.  F.  Williams. 
E.  D.  Scott. 

5.  Not  named. 

6.  J.  B.  Work. 
Henry  Clay. 

7.  A.  M.  Lawson. 
S.  W.  Cochran. 

8.  E.  O.  Hines. 

W.  W.  WrilloughDy. 

9.  C.  C.  Tompkins. 
E.  M.  Rucker. 


PERSONELLE    OF     THE    CONVENTION.  319 

WEST  VIRGINIA. 

At-Large.    B.  B.  Dorener,  Wheeling. 

William  M.  O.  Dawson,  Kingwood. 
E.  L.  Buttrick,  Charleston. 
Warren  Miller,  Ravenswood. 

Districts,  i.    C.  D.  Thompson,  Wheeling. 

T.  B.  Jacobs,  New  Martinsville. 

2.  Lamar  C.  Powell,  Fairmont. 
Arnold  C.  Sherr,  Maysville. 

3.  Neil  Robinson,  Coalburg. 

J.  W.  Heavener,  Buckhannon. 

4.  B.  J.  Redmond,  West  Columbia. 
M.  C.  C.  Church,  Parkersburg. 

WISCONSIN. 

At-Large.   E.  B.  Brodhead,  Milwaukee. 
E.  W.  Keyes,  Madison. 
Jonathan  Bowman,  Kilbourn  City. 
Thomas  B.  Scott,  Grand  Rapids. 

Districts,  i.   H.  A.  Cooper,  Racine.  . 
J.  W.  Sayles,  Janesville. 

2.  W.  T.  Rambush,  Juneau. 
S.  S.  Barney,  West  Bend. 

3.  Calvin  Spenseley,  Mineral  Point. 
A.  C.  Dodge,  Monroe. 

4.  F.  C.  Winker,  Milwaukee. 
Edward  Sanderson,  Milwaukee. 

5.  J.  H.  Mead,  Sheboygan. 

C.  E.  Estabrook,  Manitowoc. 

6.  C.  B.  Clark,  Nenah. 

A.  M.  Kimball,  Pine  River. 

7.  C.  M.  Butt,  Viroqua. 

O.  F.  Temple,  Masston. 

8.  Horace  A.  Taylor,  Hudson. 
George  B.  Shaw,  Eau  Claire. 

9.  Alexander  Stewart,  Wausau. 
O.  A.  Ellis,  Oconto. 


32O  PERSONELLE    OF    THE    CONVENTION. 

ARIZONA. 


Clark  Churchill, 
A.  H.  Stebbins, 


Preston 
Tombstone 


W.  E.  Nelson, 
J.  L.  Jolly, 


DAKOTA. 


Yankton 
Yankton 


DISTRICT  OF  COLUMBIA. 


Frank  B.  Conger 
Perry  H.  Carson 


Washington 
Washington 


D.  P.  B.  Pride 
W.  N.  Shilling 


IDAHO. 


Boise  City 
Blackfoot. 


Wilbur  F.  Saunders 
Lee  Mantle     - 


MONTANA. 


Helene 
Butte 


Eugenie  Romere 
W.  H.  H.  Llewellyn 


NEW  MEXICO. 


Las  Vegas 
Lincoln 


Eli  H.  Murray 
Nathan  Kimball 


UTAH. 


Salt  Lake  City 
-      Ogden 


PERSONELLE    OF    THE    CONVENTION.  32! 
WASHINGTON. 

John  L.  Wilson  Spokane 

George  D.  Hill  Seattle 

WYOMING. 

James  France        -        -        -                -        -        -  Rawlins 

John  W.  Meldrum         -        -----  Laramie  City 


CHAPTER  III. 

THE    PLATFORM. 

"Do  not  stand  on  the  platform  when  the  train 
is  in  motion,"  is  a  legend  seriously  employed  in 
railroad  travel  and  ironically  employed  among  the 
political  parties.  Every  party  is  supposed  to 
have  certain  principles  which  constitute  its  dis 
tinctive  features  and  form  a  basis  on  which  to 
rest  its  demand  for  votes.  These  features  are 
technically  "the  planks,"  of  which  "  the  party 
platform  "  is  constructed,  and  on  which  it  pre 
sents  itself  to  the  world  and  does  its  work.  It 
is  a  natural  impulse  to  make  unsightly  and  un 
sound  platforms  look  the  best  possible.  The 
rough  planks  of  the  platform  at  the  country 
picnic  are  decorated  with  evergreens  ;  the  extem 
porized  platform  of  the  Fourth  of  July  rally  is 
covered  with  flags,  and  so  the  unsightliness  and 
unsoundness  of  many  a  party  platform  has  been 
concealed  with  redundant  verbiage  and  vague 
phrases.  Indeed,  so  much  does  the  average 
"platform  "  deal  in  meaningless,  or  double-mean 
ing  phrases,  that  no  man  can  be  fairly  credited 
with  standing  on  it.  And  yet  the  party  platform 
is  an  institution.  The  stump  speakers  of  the  cam- 
322 


THE    PLATFORM.  323 

paign  quote  it,  and  the  excited  disputants  appeal 
to  it.  To  many  it  has  the  authority  of  both  law 
and  gospel. 

The  platform  for  the  campaign  of  1884  was 
adopted  at  Chicago,  Thursday,  June  5th. 

As  the  platform  was  being  read  there  were  in 
terruptions  of  applause  at  the  points  approving  the 
President's  administration  ;  declaring  that  duties 
shall  be  made  not  for  revenue  only ;  claiming 
full  and  adequate  protection  for  sheep  husbandry  ; 
recommending  legislation  to  regulate  the  rail 
roads  ;  disapproving  the  importation  of  contract 
labor,  whether  from  Europe  or  Asia  ;  favoring  the 
civil  service  law  ;  condemning  the  acquisition  of 
large  tracts  of  lands,  especially  by  non-resident 
aliens  ;  declaring  the  policy  of  non-interference 
with  foreign  nations,  and  that  foreign  nations  shall 
refrain  from  intermeddling  in  American  affairs  ; 
for  the  enforcement  of  the  laws  against  polygamy 
and  condemning  the  fraud  and  violence  of  the 
Democracy  in  the  Southern  States.  The  resolu 
tions  were  adopted  without  discussion  and  amid 
much  applause.  The  full  text  of  the  platform  is 
given  below: 

THE   REPUBLICAN   PLATFORM. 

The  Republicans  of  the  United  States,  in  Convention 
assembled,  renew  their  allegiance  to  the  principles  upon 
which  they  have  triumphed  in  six  successive  Presidential 
elections,  and  congratulate  the  American  people  on  the 


324  THE    PLATFORM. 

attainment  of  so  many  results  in  legislation  and  admin 
istration  by  which  the  Republican  party  has,  after  saving 
the  Union,  done  so  much  to  render  its  institutions  just, 
equal  and  beneficent — the  safeguard  of  liberty,  and  the 
embodiment  of  the  best  thought  and  highest  purposes  of 
our  citizens.  The  Republican  party  has  gained  its 
strength  by  quick  and  faithful  response  to  the  demands 
of  the  people  for  the  freedom  and  the  equality  of  all  men ; 
for  a  united  nation,  assuring  the  rights  of  all  citizens ;  for 
the  elevation  of  labor  ;  for  an  honest  currency  ;  for  purity 
in  legislation,  and  for  integrity  and  accountability  in  all 
departments  of  the  Government,  and  it  accepts  anew  the 
duty  of  leading  in  the  work  of  progress  and  reform.  We 
lament  the  death  of  President  Garfield,  whose  sound 
statesmanship,  long  conspicuous  in  Congress,  gave 
promise  of  a  strong  and  successful  administration,  a 
promise  fully  realized  during  the  short  period  of  his  office 
as  President  of  the  United  States.  His  distinguished 
success  in  war  and  in  peace  have  endeared  him  to  the 
hearts  of  the  American  people.  In  the  administration  of 
President  Arthur  we  recognize  a  wise,  conservative  and 
patriotic  policy,  under  which  the  country  has  been  blessed 
with  remarkable  prosperity,  and  we  believe  his  eminent 
services  are  entitled  to,  and  will  receive,  the  hearty 
approval  of  every  citizen. 

It  is  the  first  duty  of  a  good  government  to  protect  the 
rights  and  promote  the  interests  of  its  own  people ;  the 
largest  diversity  of  industry  is  most  productive  of  general 
prosperity,  and  of  the  comfort  and  independence  of  the 
people. 

THE   TARIFF. 

We  therefore  demand  that  the  imposition  of  duties  on 
foreign  imports  shall  be  made  not  for  "  revenue  only," 


THE    PLATFORM  325 

but  that  in  raising  the  requisite  revenues  for  the  Govern 
ment,  such  duties  shall  be  so  levied  as  to  afford  security 
to  our  diversified  industries,  and  protection  to  the  rights 
and  wages  of  the  laborer,  to  the  end  that  active  and  intel 
ligent  labor,  as  well  as  capital,  may  have  its  just  award, 
and  the  laboring  man  his  full  share  in  the  national 
prosperity.  Against  the  so-called  economical  system  of 
the  Democratic  party,  which  would  degrade  our  labor  to 
the  foreign  standard,  we  enter  our  earnest  protest.  The 
Democratic  party  has  failed  completely  to  relieve  the 
people  of  the  burden  of  unnecessary  taxation  by  a  wise 
reduction  of  the  surplus. 

The  Republican  party  pledges  itself  to  correct  the 
inequalities  of  the  tariff,  and  to  reduce  the  surplus,  not  by 
the  vicious  and  indiscriminate  process  of  horizontal  reduc 
tion,  but  by  such  methods  as  will  relieve  the  tax-payer 
without  injuring  the  laborer  or  the  great  productive  inter 
ests  of  the  country. 

We  recognize  the  importance  of  sheep  husbandry  in 
the  United  States,  the  serious  depression  which  it  is  now 
experiencing,  and  the  danger  threatening  its  future 
prosperity,  and  we  therefore  respect  the  demands  of  the 
representatives  of  this  important  agricultural  interest  for 
a  readjustment  of  duty  upon  foreign  wool,  in  order  that 
such  industry  shall  have  full  and  adequate  protection. 

We  have  always  recommended  the  best  money  known 
to  the  civilized  world,  and  we  urge  that  an  effort  be  made 
to  unite  all  commercial  nations  in  the  establishment  of 
the  international  standard  which  shall  fix  for  all  the  rela 
tive  value  of  gold  and  silver  coinage. 

POWERS    OF   CONGRESS. 

The  regulation  of  commerce  with  foreign  nations,  and 
between  the  States,  is  one  of  the  most  important  preroga- 

20 


326  THE    PLATFORM. 

tives  of  the  General  Government,  and  the  Republican 
party  distinctly  announces  its  purpose  to  support  such 
legislation  as  will  fully  and  efficiently  carry  out  the  con 
stitutional  power  of  Congress  over  inter-State  comrnerce. 
The  principle  of  the  public  regulation  of  railway  corpo 
rations  is  a  wise  and  salutary  one  for  the  protection  of  all 
classes  of  the  people,  and  we  favor  legislation  that  shall 
prevent  unjust  discrimination  and  excessive  charges  for 
transportation,  and  that  shall  secure  to  the  people  and  to 
the  railways  alike  the  fair  and  equal  protection  of  the 
laws.  We  favor  the  establishment  of  a  national  bureau 
of  labor,  the  enforcement  of  the  eight-hour  law,  a  wise 
and  judicious  system  of  general  education  by  adequate 
appropriation  from  the  national  revenues  wherever  the 
same  is  needed.  We  believe  that  everywhere  the  pro 
tection  to  a  citizen  of  American  birth  must  be  secured  to 
the  citizens  by  American  adoption,  and  we  favor  the 
settlement  of  national  differences  by  international  arbi 
tration. 

The  Republican  party,  having  its  birth  in  a  hatred  of 
slave  labor,  and  in  a  desire  that  all  men  may  be  free  and 
equal,  is  unalterably  opposed  to  placing  our  workingmen 
in  competition  with  any  form  of  servile  labor,  whether  at 
home  or  abroad.  In  this  spirit  we  denounce  the  import 
ation  of  contract  labor,  whether  from  Europe  or  Asia,  as 
an  offense  against  the  spirit  of  American  institutions,  and 
we  pledge  ourselves  to  sustain  the  present  law  restricting 
Chinese  immigration,  and  to  provide  such  further  legisla 
tion  as  is  necessary  to  carry  out  its  purposes. 

CIVIL   SERVICE    REFORM. 

The  reform  of  the  civil  service,  auspiciously  begun 
under  Republican  administration,  should  be  completed 


THE    PLATFORM.  327 

by  the  further  extension  of  the  reform  system,  already 
established  by  law,  to  all  the  grades  of  the  service  to 
which  it  is  applicable.  The  spirit  and  purpose  of  the 
reform  should  be  observed  in  all  executive  appointments, 
and  all  laws  at  variance  with  the  objects  of  existing 
reform  legislation  should  be  repealed  to  the  end,  that  the 
dangers  to  free  institutions  which  lurk  in  the  power  of 
official  patronage  may  be  wisely  and  effectively  avoided. 

PUBLIC    LANDS. 

The  public  lands  are  a  heritage  of  the  people  of  the 
United  States,  and  should  be  reserved,  as  far  as  possible, 
for  small  holdings  by  actual  settlers.  We  are  opposed  to 
the  acquisition  of  large  tracts  of  these  lands  by  corpora 
tions  or  individuals,  especially  where  such  holdings  are 
in  the  hands  of  non-resident  aliens,  and  we  will  endeavor 
to  obtain  such  legislation  as  will  tend  to  correct  this  evil. 

We  demand  of  Congress  the  speedy  forfeiture  of  all 
land  grants  which  have  lapsed  by  reason  of  non-compli 
ance  with  acts  of  incorporation,  in  all  cases,  where  there 
has  been  no  attempt,  in  good  faith,  to  perform  the  con 
ditions  of  such  grants. 

The  grateful  thanks  of  the  American  people  are  due  to 
the  Union  soldiers  and  sailors  of  the  late  war,  and  the 
Republican  party  stands  pledged  to  suitable  pensions  to 
all  who  were  disabled  and  for  the  widows  and  orphans 
of  those  who  died  in  the  war.  The  Republican  party 
pledges  itself  to  the  repeal  of  the  limitation  contained  in 
the  arrears  act  of  1879,  so  that  all  invalid  soldiers  shall 
share  alike  and  their  pensions  shall  begin  with  the  date 
of  disability  or  discharge  and  not  with  the  date  of  the 
application. 

The  Republican  party  favors  a  policy  which  shall  keep 
us  from  entangling  alliances  with  foreign  nations,  and 


328  THE    PLATFORM. 

which  shall  give  the  right  to  expect  that  foreign  nations . 
shall  refrain  from  meddling  in  America — the  policy 
which  seeks  peace  and  can  trade  with  all  powers,  but 
especially  with  those  of  the  Western  Hemisphere.  We 
demand  the  restoration  of  our  navy  to  its  old-time  strength 
and  efficiency,  that  it  may  in  any  sea  protect  the  rights 
of  American  citizens  and  the  interests  of  American  com 
merce,  and  we  call  upon  Congress  to  remove  the  burdens 
under  which  American  shipping  has  been  depressed  so 
that  it  may  again  be  true  that  we  have  a  commerce  which 
leaves  no  sea  unexplored  and  a  navy  which  takes  no  law 
for  superior  force. 

RESOLVED,  That  appointments  by  the  President  to 
offices  in  the  Territories  should  be  made  from  the  bona 
fide  citizens  and  residents  of  the  Territories  wherein  they 
are  to  serve. 

RESOLVED,  That  it  is  the  duty  of  Congress  to  enact 
such  laws  as  shall  promptly  and  effectually  suppress  the 
system  of  polygamy  within  our  territory,  and  divorce  the 
political  from  the  ecclesiastical  power  of  the  so-called 
Mormon  Church,  and  that  the  law  so  enacted  should  be 
rigidly  enforced  by  the  civil  authorities  if  possible,  and 
by  the  military  if  need  be. 

THE    NATION. 

The  people'  of  the  United  States,  in  their  organized 
capacity,  constitute  a  nation  and  not  a  mere  confederacy 
of  States.  The  National  Government  is  supreme  within 
the  sphere  of  its  national  duty,  but  the  States  have 
reserved  rights  which  should  be  faithfully  maintained; 
each  should  be  guarded  with  jealous  care,  so  that  the 
harmony  of  our  system  of  government  may  be  preserved 
and  the  Union  kept  inviolate.  The  perpetuity  of  our 
institutions  rests  upon  the  maintenance  of  a  free  ballot, 


>S 

i  g 


THE    PLATFORM.  33! 

an  honest  count  and  a  correct  return.  We  denounce  the 
fraud  and  violence  practiced  by  the  Democratic  party  in 
Southern  States,  by  which  the  will  of  the  voter  is  defeated, 
as  dangerous  to  the  preservation  of  free  institutions,  and 
we  solemnly  arraign  the  Democratic  party  as  being  the 
guilty  recipient  of  the  fruit  of  such  fraud  and  violence. 
We  extend  to  the  Republicans  of  the  South,  regardless 
of  their  former  party  affiliations,  our  cordial  sympathy, 
and  pledge  to  them  our  most  earnest  efforts  to  promote 
the  passage  of  such  legislation  as  will  secure  to  every 
citizen,  of  whatever  race  and  color,  the  full  and  complete 
recognition,  possession  and  exercise  of  all  civil  and 
political  rights. 

Such  is  the  declaration  of  principles  on  which 
the  Convention  placed  itself  before  proceeding  to 
the  selection  of  its  candidates. 


CHAPTER  IV. 

NAMING   THE    CANDIDATES.  . 

No  session  of  the  Convention   had  awakened 
so  general  interest  and  enthusiasm  as  that  held 
on  Thursday  night,  when  naming  the  candidates 
was    the    order    of    business.     The  Convention 
presented  a  most  brilliant  and  imposing  spectacle. 
More  than  a  thousand   gaslights  illuminated  the 
hall,  and  fully  one-third  of  the  galleries  and  half 
the  stage  platform  were  filled  with  ladies.     The 
night  was    clear  and  cool,  the  occasion   one  of 
uncommon    inspiration,  and    everything   befitted 
the  greatest  work  of  the  greatest  people  of  the 
earth.     The  States  were  called  in  order,  and  such 
as  had  a  favorite  son  to  name  presented  him  in  a 
suitable   speech    from   a   chosen    representative. 
Connecticut  was  the  first  to  respond,  which  she 
did   in    the   person  of  Augustus  Brandagee,  of 
New  London,  who  presented  the  name  of  General 
Joseph  R.  Hawley.     He  spoke  at  length  of  Gen 
eral  Hawley's  services  to  the  party  and  his  war 
record.    "  He  fought,"  said  Mr.  Brandagee,  "  the 
war  through,  from  a  private  at  Bull  Run  until  that 
day  when  the  Democratic  party  laid  down  its  arms 
under  the  apple  tree  of  Appomattox.   [Applause.] 
332 


GENERAL   JOSEPH    R.    HAWLEY, 
U.  S.  Senator  for  Connecticut. 


NAMING    THE    CANDIDATES.  335 

He  went  in  with  a  musket.  He  came  out  as  a 
major-general.  But,  sir,  it  is  not  in  the  purple 
testament  of  bleeding  war  that  his  name  is  written ; 
among  the  foremost  alone  he  stands,  as  well  in  the 
front  rank  of  debaters,  orators  and  Senators. 
There  is  no  State  where  his  voice  has  not  been 
heard,  preaching  the  gospel  of  Republicanism. 
He  was  a  Republican  before  the  Republican  party 
was  born.  [Applause  and  cheers.]  He  believed  in 
its  creed  before  it  was  formulated.  [Applause 
and  cheers.]  There  is  no  question  in  the  Senate 
of  the  United  States  which  has  not  received  his 
intelligence."  Mr.  Brandagee  said  his  character 
was  without  stain,  and  there  was  nothing  to  apolo 
gize  for,  but  if  the  Convention  concluded  it  had  a 
better  candidate  than  Hawley,  Connecticut  would 
cheerfully  support  him. 

Illinois  responded  to  the  call  through  Senator 
Callow,  who  presented  the  name  of  General  John 
A.  Logan.  He  dwelt  on  Logan's  war  record, 
and  said  he  had  never  lost  a  battle,  nor  disobeyed 
an  order.  His  remarks  were  frequently  cheered, 
but  he  and  his  second  exhausted  the  enthusiasm 
of  the  house  by  the  inordinate  length  of  their 
remarks. 

The  call  of  Maine  produced  a  storm  of  applause, 
shaking  the  building  from  the  floor  to  the  dome. 
Hats,  canes,  umbrellas,  handkerchiefs,  even  bon 
nets,  were  wildly  waved.  The  applause  was 
incessant.  The  audience  got  upon  chairs,  the 


*;6  NAMING    THE    CANDIDATES. 

\j  \j 

ladies   waving    their   handkerchiefs.      The    band 
finally  tried  to  drown  the  enthusiasm  of  the  multi 
tude,  but  only  an  occasional  strain  could  be  heard. 
The  chairman  vainly  tried  to  secure  order.     Judge 
West,  of  Ohio,  finally  took  the  floor  to  present  the 
name  of  James  G.  Blaine.     He  paid  an  eloquent 
tribute   to  Blaine.     There   was   intense  applause 
upon  reference  to  Abraham  Lincoln,  the  immortal 
emancipator.     The  Judge  asked,  "Who  shall  be 
our  candidate  ?  "  which  evoked  loud  replies  from 
the  audience  of   4i  Blaine!"   "Blaine!"  and  pro 
duced  a  shouting  combat  of  voices,  the  supporters 
of    each    loudly    shouting    their    favorite    name. 
When  West  mentioned  Blaine's  name,  the  audience 
arose  to   its  feet,  and  tremendous   cheering  was 
long   continued.      The    audience    took    the    flags 
fastened   around    the    gallery    and    waved    them. 
Then  they  pulled  the  banners  down  from  the  walls 
of  the  hall,  waving  them  amid  deafening  cheering. 
When   West  had  finished  there  was   renewed 
cheering,  which  continued  for  some  time  afterward. 
Ex-Governor,  Cushman  K.   Davis,  of  Minnesota, 
took  the  floor  to  second  the  nomination.     He  said 
the  people  of  the   country  asked  this  Convention 
to  grant  their  twice-deferred   desire  ;  that   Blaine 
was  not  of  one  State,  but  of  all,  from  Maine  to 
California.     He  concluded  his  speech  amid  another 
outburst  of  applause. 

General  William  Cassius  Goodloe,  of  Kentucky, 
from  the  home  of  Henry  Clay,  followed  in  a  speech 


NAMING    THE    CANDIDATES. 


339 


seconding  Elaine's  nomination.  By  this  time  the 
crowd  outside  of  the  Convention  had  taken  up  the 
enthusiasm,  their  cheers  preventing  much  of  the 
speech  being  heard  at  remote  points  in  the  hall. 
Ex-Senator  Thomas  C.  Platt,  of  New  York,  also 
seconded  the  nomination.  He  asked  the  Blaine 
delegates  to  stand  firm,  and  victory  now  and  in 
November  was  theirs.  He  was  followed  by  Hon. 
Galusha  A.  Grow,  of  Pennsylvania,  who  also  spoke 
for  Blaine. 

When  New  York  was  called  the  house  burst 
into  cheers,  which  were  generally  participated  in. 
The  cheering  continued  and  flags  and  handker 
chiefs  were  waved  and  many  delegates  threw  their 
hats  in  the  air.  Finally  the  galleries  struck  up  the 
old  refrain,  "John  Brown's  Body." 

Martin  I.  Townsend  took  the  floor  to  present 
Arthur.  His  speech  was  freqently  interrupted  by 
cheers.  He  said  Arthur's  nomination  would  give 
satisfaction  to  all  classes  of  citizens.  Townsend's 
reference  to  Conkling  and  Platt  resigning  on 
account  of  Blaine's  wickedness  was  received  with 
a  storm  of  hisses.  The  latter  part  of  Townsend's 
speech  was  delivered  amid  a  good  deal  of  con 
fusion  and  interruption. 

General  Harry  Bingham,  of  Pennsylvania, 
seconded  the  nomination  of  Arthur,  in  an  enthu 
siastic  speech,  which  was  well  received.  When  he 
spoke  for  Pennsylvania,  and  pledged  the  electoral 
vote  for  Arthur  by  30,000,  he  revived  the  Arthur 


34O  NAMING   THE    CANDIDATES. 

enthusiasm  and  warmed  up  the  chilly  atmosphere 
that  surrounded  them  at  the  close  of  the  preced 
ing  day.  It  was  a  most  successful  speech,  and  if 
any  really  impressed  the  Convention  his  was  the 
most  impressive.  Lynch,  of  Mississippi,  then  took 
the  stand  to  second  the  nomination  of  Arthur,  and 
he  was  received  with  cheers.  Winston,  of  North 
Carolina,  also  seconded  the  nomination,  and 
Pinchback,  of  Louisiana,  followed. 

When  Ohio  was  called  Judge  Foracker  took  the 
platform  amid  hearty  greetings.  His  opening 
compliment  to  Elaine  started  so  wild  a  storm  of 
applause  that  his  main  object,  the  nomination  of 
John  Sherman,  of  Ohio,  was  temporarily  lost  to 
view.  But  the  Judge  managed  the  affair  grace 
fully,  and  made  a  splendid  speech,  though  he  did 
not  kindle  the  audience  beyond  a  moderate  glow 
of  enthusiasm.  Holt,  of  Kentucky,  followed,  but 
the  fervor  did  not  rise. 

When  Vermont,  was  called  Governor  Long,  of 
Massachusetts,  took  the  floor  for  Senator  George 
F.  Edmunds.  His  speech  was  entirely  outside  of 
the  regulation  oratorical  eulogies.  He  spoke  like 
a  bold,  brave  man  for  an  able  and  blameless  can 
didate,  and  he  waked  the  Convention  out  of  its 
weariness  by  his  sensible  and  incisive  admonitions 
to  the  delegates  and  the  party.  When  he  closed 
there  were  hearty  rounds  of  applause,  in  which  the 
Arthur  delegates  cordially  participated.  Next 
came  George  William  Curtis  to  second  the  Ed- 


NAMING   THE    CANDIDATES.  343 

munds'  nomination,  which  he  did  with  his  accus 
tomed  grace  and  elegance,  but  the  appeal  fell 
lifeless  as  the  man  of  the  hour  had  evidently  been 
named. 

When  the  question  came,  at  a  later  stage,  upon 
the  candidates  for  the  Vice  Presidency,  a  strong 
effort  was  anticipated  for  Secretary  of  War  Lin 
coln  and  also  for  Postmaster-General  Gresham, 
but  it  was  understood  that  these  gentlemen  pre 
ferred  that  their  names  be  not  used,  and  so  the 
whole  Convention  swung  bodily  to  General  Logan, 
who,  though  he  had  been  nominated  for  the  first 
place  on  the  ticket  was,  nevertheless,  understood 
to  be  "in  the  hands  of  his  friends."  His  friends 
used  him  well,  and  rallied  about  him  with 
unbounded  enthusiasm  and  great  good  sense, 
making  him,  in  fact,  the  one  man  presented  for 
the  second  place. 


CHAPTER  V. 

THE  CHOICE. 

FRIDAY,  June  6th,  was  the  eventful  day  of  the 
Convention.  It  was  called  to  order  by  Chairman 
Henderson  at  11.19  A.  M.,  and  the  Rev.  Dr. 
Henry  Martyn  Scudder  led  in  prayer,  after  which 
the  body  quickly  addressed  itself  to  the  work  of 
nominating  the  candidate  for  the  presidency. 

By  vote  of  the  National  Committee  and  of  the 
convention  itself,  the  rules  of  the  convention  of 
1880  were  adopted  for  the  government  of  that  of 
1884.  These  rules  provided, 

First — That  each  State  must  respond  when 
called,  or  lose  its  right  to  be  counted  on  that  ballot. 

Second — That  an  absent  delegate  has  no  right 
to  authorize  any  one  to  vote  for  him,  and  that 
each  delegate  or  each  alternate  must  cast  his  own 
vote. 

Third — That  when  a  delegate  fails  to  respond, 
the  name  of  the  alternate  borne  upon  the  roll 
opposite  that  delegate  shall  then  be  called.  If 
that  alternate  does  not  respond,  the  names  of  the 
other  alternates  selected  for  the  same  representa 
tion  by  the  same  authority  will  be  called  in  their 
order ;  as,  for  instance,  if  a  delegate-at-large  fails 

344 


THE   CHOICE,  345 

to  respond,  and  the  alternate  whose  name  is  on 
the  roll  opposite  that  delegate-at-large  also  fails 
to  respond,  the  chair  will  direct  the  other  three 
alternates-at-large  to  be  called  in  their  order,  and 
there  stop.  If,  on  the  other  hand,  the  failure  to 
respond  be  that  of  a  district  delegate,  the  chair 
will  direct  the  name  of  the  other  alternate  from 
that  district  (the  first  one  failing  to  respond)  to  be 
called,  and  there  stop, 

fourth — A  delegate  absent  when  the  vote  of 
his  State  is  announced  and  recorded  cannot,  on 
that  vote,  be  counted. 

All  these  rulings,  which  were  carefully  and  dis 
tinctly  stated  by  the  president,  Senator  Hoar, 
were  acquiesced  in  without  dissent,  and  were 
accepted  as  the  law  governing  the  proceedings 
of  the  Convention  of  1 880,  and  were  rigidly  and 
impartially  applied. 

During  the  roll-call  there  were  numerous  calls 
for  a  poll  of  the  delegates,  which  necessitated  the 
calling  by  the  Secretary  of  the  names  of  the  indi 
vidual  delegates  in  the  states  from  which  these 
calls  proceeded.  This  caused  great  delay  in  bal 
loting.  After  the  announcement  of  the  vote  by 
the  Secretary,  the  Chair  said  : 

"A  ballot  for  a  candidate  for  the  presidency 
having  been  had  without  securing  a  nomination, 
according  to  the  rules,  the  Convention  will  now 
proceed  to  another  vote.  The  Secretary  will  call 
the  roll."  The  first  ballot  stood  as  follows  : 


346 


LIFE    OF   JAMES    G.  ELAINE. 


THE    FIRST    BALLOT. 


States  and 
Territories. 

Total  vote. 

Elaine. 

Arthur. 

Edmunds. 

, 

Sherman. 

Hawley. 

Lincoln. 

W.  T.  Shermaij. 

Alabama                        > 

20 

1 

17 

^ 

Arkansas  

14 

8 

4 

2 

California.             

16 

16 

Colorado 

0 

Connecticut  
Delaware 

12 
(i 

5 

1 

12 

Florida  

8 

1 

7 

Georgia                 '• 

24 

24 

Illinois 

44 

8 

1 

40 

Indiana  
Iowa 

30 
20 

18 
20 

e 

1 

2 

Kansas 

18 

12 

4 

1 

1 

Kentucky  ' 
Louisiana 

20 
16 

16 

10 

1 

1 

Maine                         * 

12 

12 

Maryland           

10 

10 

0 

Massachusetts 

28 

1 

2 

2-5 

20 

15 

2 

7 

Minnesota 

14 

7 

1 

6 

18 

1 

17 

Missouri                  

32 

5 

10 

0 

10 

1 

Nebraska  

10 

8 

2 

6 

0 

New  Hampshire  

8 

4 

4 

New  Jersey  

18 

9 

6 

1 

2 

2 

New  York 

72 

2S 

31 

12 

1 

North  Carolina  

22 

2 

19 

1 

Ohio 

40 

25 

,. 

Pennsylvania  
Rhode  Island 

CO 

8 

47 

11 

1 

8 

1 

South  Carolina 

18 

j 

17 

Tennessee            

24 

7 

10 

1 

Texas 

20 

13 

11 

2 

Vermont       

8 

8 

24 

2 

21 

1 

West  Virginia  

12 

12 

"Wisconsin   .             

22 

10 

0 

6 

2 

2 

Dakota                

2 

2 

Idaho 

2 

Montana,  
New  Mexico 

2 
2 

1 

"2 

1 

Utah  

2 

2 

2 

2 

... 

"Wyoming 

2 

2 

Dist  of  Columbia 

2 

1 

1 

Totals  

!    820 

334% 

278 

93 

63% 

30 

13 

4 

2 

The  half  votes  shown  in  this  table  came  from 
contested  delegations,  each  being  admitted  with 
but  half  a  vote. 


THE    CHOICE. 


347 


THE    SECOND    BALLOT. 

The  Secretary  called  the  roll  of  states  for  the 
second  ballot,  which  resulted  as  follows  : 


States  and 
Territories. 

Total  vote. 

Arthur. 

Elaine. 

Edmunds. 

Logan. 

Sherman. 

Hawley. 

Lincoln. 

W.  T.  Sherman. 

Alabama             

20 

17 

2 

1 

14 

3 

11 

... 

16 

16 

g 

6 

12 

12 

Delaware      

6 

1 

5 

8 

7 

1 

.... 

24 

24 

.... 

Illinois          

44 

1 

3 

40 

30 

9 

18 

1 

2 

26 

26 

18 

2 

18 

2 

1 

26 

17 

5 

2 

i 

1 

16 

9 

4 

2 

12 

12 

Maryland  
Massachusetts  

16 

28 
26 

4 
3 
4 

12 
1 
15 

24 
5 

.... 

"2 

Minnesota    

14 

1 

7 

6 

... 

.... 

18 

17 

1 

Missouri  
Nebraska         

32 
10 

10 

2 

7 
8 

5 

8 

i 

... 

6 

6 

New  Hampshire  

8 
18 

5 

"9 

3 
6 

... 

"i 

"2 

72 

81 

28 

12 

1 

North  Carolina  
Ohio            

22 
46 

18 

3 
23 

1 

23 

... 

;; 

6 

« 

.. 

Pennsylvania  

60 

8 

11 

47 

1 

« 

i 

.... 

18 

17 

1 

94 

16 

7 

i 

Tennessee  
Texas                

26 

11 

13 

2 

... 

Vermont  
Virginia          

8 
24 

21 

"2 

8 

"i 

.... 

West  Virginia  
Wisconsin  
Arizona  

12 

22 
2 
2 

"6 

12 
11 
2 
2 

5 

.... 

... 

Idaho  

2 
2 

2 

"i 

1 

New  Mexico  

2 
2 

2 
2 

... 

... 

.... 

Utah  

2 

Washington  

2 

2 

District  of  Columbia 

2 

1 

1 

... 

Totals  

820 

276 

349 

85 

81 

28 

13 

4 

2 

This  announcement  was  received  with  cheers. 


348 


LIFE    OF   JAMES    G.  ELAINE. 


THE    THIRD    BALLOT. 

No  nomination  having  been  made,  the  Secre 
tary  called  the  roll  for  the  third  ballot,  which 
resulted  as  follows  : 


States  and 
Territories. 

Total  vote. 

Elaine. 

Arthur. 

rf 

! 

Edmunds. 

Sherman. 

Hawley. 

Lincoln. 

W.  T.  Sherman. 

Alabama  , 

20 

2 

17 

i 

Arkansas  

14 

11 

3 

California  

10 

16 

Colorado  
Connecticut  
Delaware  

6 
12 

6 

6 

5 

"i 

12 

Florida  

8 

1 

7 

CJeorgia     .   . 

24 

24 

Illinois  

44 

8 

1 

40 

t 

Indiana  

30 

18 

10 

2 

Iowa  

26 

26 

Kansas  
Kentucky 

18 
26 

15 
6 

16 

2 
2 

1 

1 

1 

Louisiana  
Maine  

16 
12 

4 
12 

9 

2 

Maryland. 

16 

12 

4 

Massachusetts  
Michigan 

28 
26 

11 

18 

3 
4 

24 
3 

1 

.... 

1 

Minnesota 

14 

7 

2 

5 

Mississippi 

18 

1 

16 

1 

Missouri  

32 

12 

11 

4 

4 

Nebraska  

10 

10 

Nevada 

6 

6 

New  Hampshire  
New  Jersey  

8 
18 

ii 

5 
1 

3 

(i 

... 

New  York 

72 

28 

32 

12 

North  Carolina  ... 

22 

4 

18 

Ohio              .  . 

46 

2f> 

21 

Oregon 

6 

(j 

Pennsylvania 

60 

50 

8 

1 

1 

... 

Rhode  Island  
South  Caroli  mi  
Tennessee 

8 
18 
24 

"2 

7 

1(3 
17 

8 

... 

... 

Texas  

26 

14 

11 

i 

Vermont 

8 

g 

Virginia  

24 

4 

20 

West  Virginia  
Wisconsin 

12 

22 

12 
11 

ib 

.... 

i 

Arizona  

2 

2 

Dakota 

2 

2 

2 

1 

i 

Montana 

2 

1 

1 

New  Mexico  

2 

2 

Utah  

2 

2 

Washington 

2 

2 

Wyoming  

2 

2 

Dist  of  Columbia 

2 

1 

1 

Totals  

820 

375 

274 

68 

69 

25 

18    1 

8 

2 

THE    CHOICE. 


349 


THE  FOURTH  BALLOT. 

The  Secretary  called  the  roll  of  the  states  for 
the  fourth  and  last  ballot,  which  resulted  as 
follows : 


States  and 
Territories. 

Total  vote. 

Arthur. 

a 

3 

« 

• 
Edmunds. 

d 

1 

1 

Sherman, 

Hawley. 

Lincoln. 

Alabama.          

20 

12 

g 

Arkansas 

14 

3 

11 

California  

16 

16 

Colorado 

6 

6 

Connecticut  

12 

12 

Delaware  

6 

1 

5 

Florida 

g 

5 

3 

Georgia  

24 

24 

Illinois 

44 

3 

34 

6 

Indiana  

30 

30 

Iowa                              .  . 

26 

2 

24 

Kansas  

18 

18 

Kentucky                      

26 

15 

9 

1 

1 

Louisiana 

16 

7 

9 

Maine  

12 

12 

*** 

Maryland                      

16 

I 

15 

Massachusetts  

28 

7 

3 

8 

Michigan  .  .    .              

26 

26 

Minnesota 

14 

14 

Misssissippi...              

18 

16 

2 

" 

Missouri                        .  . 

32 

32 

Nebraska  

10 

10 

Nevada                         

6 

6 

New  Hampshire 

g 

2 

3 

3 

New  Jersey  

18 

17 

1 

New  York 

72 

30 

29 

2 

1 

North  Carolina  

22 

12 

g 

1 

Ohio           .  .                   .... 

46 

46 

Oregon  

26 

6 

Pennsylvania              

60 

g 

51 

1 

Rhode  Island 

8 

1 

7 

South  Carolina  

18 

15 

2 

1 

Tennessee 

24 

12 

11 

Texas                                     . 

26 

g 

15 

Vermont...  ..                

g 

8 

Virginia 

24 

20 

4 

West  Virginia  
Wisconsin  .                             j 

12 

22 

12 

22 

.... 

.... 

... 

Arizona  

2 

2 

"• 

" 

Dakota  ,....  

2 

2 

Idaho 

2 

2 

Montana 

2 

2 

New  Mexico 

2 

, 

Utah  

2 

2 

Washington. 

2 

2 

Wyoming 

2 

2 

Dist.  of  Columbia         

2 

1 

1 

Totals  

820 

207 

541 

41 

7 

15 

2 

21 


35°  LIFE    OF   JAMES    G.  ELAINE. 

During  this  ballot  Illinois  and  Ohio  swung  into 

the  Elaine  line,  amid  the  greatest  cheering,  and,  at 

the  conclusion,  the  Secretary  announced  the  result 

of  the  fourth  ballot  for  President  as  follows  : 

Whole  number  of  delegates,  .         ."       .  820 

Whole  number  of  votes  cast,     .         .       816 

Necessary  to  a  choice,  .         .         .         .411 

Robert  T.  Lincoln,     ....  2 

John  A.  Logan,     .....       7 

Joseph  Hawley,         .         .         .         .  15 

George  F.  Edmunds,     .         .         .         .     41 

Chester  A.  Arthur,    .         .  .       .         .        207 

James  G.  Elaine,  .         .         .         .         .    541 

The  Secretary's  announcement  of  the  vote  for 

James  G.  Elaine  got  no  further  than  the  hundreds, 

for  his  voice  was  lost  in  the  whirlwind  of  applause 

that  followed.      Every  person   in  the    audience, 

delegates    and  visitors  alike,   rose  to  their  feet 

simultaneously,  and,  all  being  Elaine  men,  shouted 

and  sang  their  delight  at  the  success  of  the  man 

from  Maine,  with  demonstrations  of  joy  such  as 

had  not  been  seen  before  in  the  Convention.     It 

took  nearly  thirty  minutes  to   get   to    business, 

after  which  the  nomination  was  made  unanimous. 

SUMMARY    OF   THE    BALLOTING. 
Candidate.  1st.  2d.          $d.          ^h. 

Elaine, 334}<  349  375  54* 

Arthur, 278  276  274  207 

Edmunds, 93  85  69  41 

Logan, 63^  61  53  7 


THE    CHOICE.  351 

SUMMARY   OF   THE    BALLOTING Continued. 

Candidate.  1st.  2d.  $d.          $th. 

Sherman, 30  28  25  o 

Hawley, 13  13  13  15 

Lincoln,     4  4  7  2 

W.  T.  Sherman,  ...  2  2  2  o 

Total  votes  cast.  .    818       818     818     813 

It  was  thought  best  not  to  be  in  a  hurry  about 
the  nomination  for  vice-president.  Mistakes 
have  been  made  in  that  way,  and  conventions 
have  at  last  learned  that  the  tail  of  the  ticket 
deserves  some  attention.  A  recess  was  taken 
until  8  o'clock  in  the  evening.  Meanwhile,  there 
was  an  active  and  considerate  canvass  of  names. 
Logan,  Lincoln,  Foraker,  Gresham  were  most 
talked  about,  but  the  drift  all  the  while  was 
toward  Logan,  the  only  question  being  whether 
the  black  eagle  of  Illinois,  as  he  has  been  called 
by  his  admirers,  would  consent  to  the  use  of  his 
name  for  the  second  place  on  the  ticket. 

He  was  plied  with  importuning  telegrams,  and 
at  last  it  was  posted  on  the  bulletins  at  the  hotels, 
where  the  delegates  most  congregate  that  he 
placed  himself  in  the  hands  of  his  friends.  That 
settled  it.  The  Convention  was  an  army  of  his 
friends,  largely  under  the  leadership  of  men  who 
had  served  with  him  in  the  late  war.  Those  who 
were  not  already  convinced  of  the  propriety  of  the 
nomination,  had  been  brought  to  it  by  the  argu- 


352  LIFE    OF   JAMES    G.    ELAINE. 

ment  that,  for  the  first  time  since  the  war  a  civilian 
had  been  nominated  for  president,  and  that  the 
soldier  element  must  have  a  place  on  the  ticket. 
The  other  candidates  diappeared  from  the  field  as 
if  by  magic,  an  when  the  Convention  assembled 
again  the  name  of  John  A.  Logan  was  the  only 
one  presented. 

It  was  seconded  by  men  from  every  section  of  the 
country,  the  only  trouble  being  to  put  an  end  to 
the  speech-making.  It  was  moved  that  the  nomina 
tion  be  made  by  acclamation,  but,  on  the  appeal  of 
the  Illinois  delegation,  there  was  a  call  of  the  roll, 
and,  except  a  few  dissenters,  the  whole  Conven 
tion  voted  for  Logan. 


CHAPTER  VI. 

CONGRATULATIONS    AND    REJOICING. 

NOT  alone  in  the  convention  at  Chicago  was 
there  joy  when  the  great  work  was  so  successfully 
accomplished,  but  all  through  the  land  the  thrill 
was  felt.  Every  city  was  stirred,  and  even  the 
dullest  hamlets  were  aroused  by  the  news.  Tele 
graphic  wires  were  alive  with  news  and  also  with 
congratulations.  At  his  distant  home  in  Maine 
the  Presidential  nominee  was  at  rest,  and  thither 
the  electric  messengers  sped  by  the  hundred. 
Among  the  first  of  these  were  the  following : 

"  To  the  Honorable  James  G.  Elaine ',  Augusta ,  Me. 

"  As  the  candidate  of  the  Republican  party  you  will 
have  my  earnest  and  cordial  support. 

"  CHESTER  A.  ARTHUR." 


"  UNITED  STATES  SENATE. 

"WASHINGTON,  June  6. 
"  Hon.  James  G.  Elaine,  Augusta,  Me. 

"  I  most  heartily  congratulate  you  on  your  nomina 
tion.     You  will  be  elected.     Your  friend, 

"  JOHN  A.  LOGAN." 

Congratulatory  telegrams  continued    to  reach 

353 


354  LIFE    OF   JAMES    G.    ELAINE. 

Mr.  Elaine  all  through  Friday  night  and  Saturday 
in  great  numbers,  not  only  from  every  State  and 
Territory  of  the  Union,  but  from  beyond  the  sea. 
Many  were  received  from  Europe,  among  the 
most  prominent  being  those  of  Minister  Morton 
in  Paris  and  Colonel  John  Hay  and  Clarence 
King  in  London.  More  than  a  thousand  tele 
grams  were  received  within  three  hours  after  his 
nomination.  The  following  specially  touching 
telegram  was  received  : 

"  CLEVELAND,  OHIO,  June  7,  1884. 
"  Our  household  joins  in  one  great  thanksgiving.  From 
the   quiet  of  our  home  we   send  our  most  earnest  wish 
that,  through  the  turbulent  months  to  follow,  and  in  the 
day  of  victory,  you  may  be  guarded  and  kept. 

"  LUCRETIA  R.  GARFIELD." 

In  addition  to  the  above,  the  following  note 
worthy  dispatches  are  given  as  fair  samples  of 
the  many : 

"  STILLWATER,  IND.,  June  7,  1884. 
"  Hon.  James  G.  Elaine  : — 

"  Vermont  stood  loyally  by  her  favorite  son  to  the  last ; 
she  now  stands  with   equal  loyalty  to   Maine's   favorite, 
and  will  give  him  a  rousing  majority  in  November. 
"  J.  GREGORY  SMITH, 

"  Executive  Chairman." 


"  MADISON,  Wis.,  June  7,  1884. 
"  Hon.  James  G.  Elaine  : — 

"  In  behalf  of  the  Republicans  of  Wisconsin  we  send 
greeting  to  you.     The  nomination  is  received  with  enthu- 


CONGRATULATIONS    AND    REJOICING.  355 

siasm,  and  you  will  secure  the  largest  majority  ever  given 
for  any  presidential  candidate  in  Wisconsin. 

"  J.  M.  RUSH." 


"CHICAGO,  June  7,  1884. 
"  Accept  my  heartiest  congratulations. 

"  E.  B.  WASHBURN." 

"TOLEDO,  O.,  June  7,  1884. 
"  Hon.  James  G.  Elaine  : — 

"  I  congratulate  you,  but  the  party  and  country  more. 
I  have  not  been  so  well  pleased  since  my  wedding  day. 

"E.  R.  LOCKE  ('  Nasby  ')." 


"  CHICAGO,  June  7,  1884. 
"  Hon.  James  G.  Elaine  : — 

"  Accept  the  heartiest  congratulations  of  the  Oregon 
delegation.  Your  nomination  insures  the  largest  Repub 
lican  majority  in  Oregon  in  November  ever  given  by  that 
State.  "  J.  N.  DOLPH, 

"  Chairman  of  the  Delegation." 


"  INDIANAPOLIS,  June  7,  1884. 
"  Hon.  James  G.  Elaine  : 

"  Accept  my  heartiest  congratulations  on  your  nomi 
nation.  We  will  give  you  the  electoral  vote  of  Indiana. 

"  BENJ.  HARRISON." 

"ATLANTA,  GA.,  June  7,  1884. 
"  Hon.  James  G.  Elaine  : — 

"  It  is  my  pleasure  to  send  the  warmest  congratulations 
of  the  Whig  Republicans  of  Georgia,  with  pledges  of  our 
support.  JAMES  LONGSTREET." 


356  LIFE    OF   JAMES    G.  ELAINE. 

Mr.  Elaine's  mail  was  equally  burdened,  its 
contents  being  so  voluminous  that  circular  letters, 
signed  by  the  great  nominee,  and  promising  early 
attention  to  the  missives  addressed  him,  were  all 
that  could  be  sent  out  for  many  days,  until  the 
clerical  corps  for  his  uses  could  be  organized. 
Within  the  first  twenty-four  hours  after  the  nomi 
nation  many  letters  were  received  from  solid  and 
prominent  men  of  New  England,,  pledging  him 
their  cordial  support.  The  formation  of  several 
Elaine  Clubs  were  announced  in  his  mail  of  the 
day  following  his  nomination. 

When  the  news  of  his  nomination  was  received, 
all  Maine  seems  to  have  been  filled  with  acclama 
tions.  At  Augusta,  the  scenes  of  enthusiam  were 
unprecedented.  The  streets  speedily  filled  with 
exultant  crowds,  the  bells  rang  out  paeans  of 
rejoicing,  cannon  boomed,  and  every  factory  whistle 
added  its  hoarse  notes  to  the  din  and  tumult. 
Later  in  the  evening,  there  was  a  general  illumi 
nation  of  the  town,  and  when  a  special  train,  filled 
with  enthusiastic  Republicans  from  Brunswick, 
Bath  and  other  towns,  reached  Augusta,  the  dem 
onstrations  assumed  a  character  really  metropoli 
tan.  Moving  in  a  body  to  the  residence  of  Mr. 
Blaine,  the  multitude  "made  the  welkin  ring" 
with  peal  on  peal  of  cheers,  the  tumult  only  sub 
siding  when  the  nominee  appeared  at  the  door 
way  and  spoke  as  follows  : 

"  MY  FRIENDS  AND  MY   NEIGHBORS  :     I  thank 


CONGRATULATIONS    AND    REJOICING.  357 

you  most  sincerely  for  the  honor  of  this  call. 
There  is  no  spot  in  the  world  where  good  news 
comes  to  me  so  gratefully  as  here  at  my  own 
home,  among  the  people  with  whom  I  have  been 
on  terms  of  friendship  and  intimacy  for  more  than 
thirty  years  ;  people  whom  I  know  and  who  know 
me.  Thanking  you  again  for  the  heartiness  of 
the  compliment,  I  bid  you  good-night." 

On  withdrawing,  Mr.  Elaine  returned  to  his 
spacious  parlors,  into  which  a  stream  of  people 
were  pouring  to  take  him  by  the  hand.  Mrs. 
Elaine  and  his  daughters,  with  Gail  Hamilton, 
were  present  and  had  their  share  of  the  honors 
bestowed.  As  soon  as  the  people  had  paid  their 
tributes  of  respect  to  Mr.  Elaine,  they  took  their 
departure,  while  their  places  were  instantly  filled 
by  others.  Mr.  Elaine  gave  a  cordial  shake  of 
the  hand  to  each  one,  and  for  those  he  recognized 
he  had  a  pleasant  word.  At  10  o'clock,  a  special 
train  from  Portland  reached  Augusta,  and  an 
hour  later  a  Pullman  train  from  Bangor  arrived, 
each  bearing  hundreds  of  people,  who  came 
expressly  to  congratulate  Mr.  Elaine  on  his  nomi 
nation. 

On  the  Qth,  Augusta  was  again  the  scene  of 
enthusiastic  demonstrations  in  connection  with  the 
arrival  of  the  California  and  other  Western  dele 
gates  to  the  National  Convention,  who  visited  the 
city  to  pay  their  respects  to  Mr.  Elaine.  These 
visitors  remained  for  two  or  three  days,  being 


358  LIFE    OF   JAMES    G.  ELAINE. 

treated  with  characteristic  hospitality  by  the  citi 
zens  of  the  Maine  capital. 

Mr.  Elaine  does  not  seem  to  have  been  at  all 
excited  over  the  fact  of  his  nomination.  A  press 
dispatch  says:  "He  spent  the  afternoon  on  the 
lower  front  of  his  residence  on  State  street, 
reclining  in  a  hammock,  under  the  shade  of  an 
apple-tree,  white  with  blossoms,  apparently  per 
fectly  unconcerned  at  the  fact  that  the  eyes  of  the 
whole  nation  were  upon  him.  His  wife  and  sev 
eral  members  of  his  family  were  around  him  ; 
Miss  Dodge,  Mr.  Alden  Sprague,  of  the  Kenne- 
bec  Journal,  was  also  present.  Maggie,  one  of 
Mr.  Elaine's  daughters,  was  stationed  at  the  tele 
phone  in  an  upper  room  in  the  residence,  taking 
the  latest  news,  which  was  telephoned  by  James 
G.  Elaine,  Jr.,  from  the  telegraph  office.  As  the 
dispatches  came  in,  Mr.  Elaine  opened  and  read 
them.  When  the  final  news  came,  and  the  nomi 
nation  was  made  certain,  there  was  no  particular 
change  in  the  manner  of  the  party.  Mr.  Elaine 
did  not  appear  affected  in  any  way,  but  on  the 
contrary  exhibited  the  utmost  equanimity.  There 
was  only  a  slight  dilation  of  his  big  and  lustrous 
eyes,  which  bespoke  how  deeply  he  felt  and  appre 
ciated  the  great  honor  conferred  upon  him.  A 
few  minutes  later,  he  betrayed  a  slight  emotion, 
as  he  casually  remarked  that  he  owed  much  to  the 
deoted  men  who  had  stood  by  him  for  so  many 
years.  In  speaking  of  the  result,  he  said  that  he 


CONGRATULATIONS    AND    REJOICING.  359 

felt  all  the  more  gratified,  because  it  was  an  honor 
that  had  come  to  him  unsolicited.  He  had  not 
lifted  a  finger  to  secure  the  nomination,  or  had 
made  any  endeavor  in  any  direction  to  get  it.  He 
had  received  over  seven  thousand  letters  asking 
him  to  be  a  candidate,  and  had  never  answered  one 
of  them.  Other  remarks  were  made  in  a  spirit 
worthy  of  the  man,  and  then  the  conversation 
turned  to  other  topics  as  if  nothing  had  happened. 

But  Mr.  Elaine  was  not  alone  in  the  congratu 
lations  and  compliments  showered  upon  him. 
General  Logan  enjoyed  greetings  of  similar  favor. 
His  official  associates  were  prompt  and  exuberant 
in  their  expressions,  as  were  old  army  associates, 
and  friends  in  all  parts  of  the  country.  He  made 
a  tour  to  Augusta  to  confer  with  his  associate  on 
the  ticket,  and  this  was  an  occasion  of  great 
rejoicing.  Enthusiasm  greeted  him  at  all  points 
of  his  journey.  The  visit  was  both  social  and 
political,  and  gave  assurance  that  the  chief  men 
of  the  campaign  will  work  in  entire  accord. 

On  the  evening  of  June  2ist,  the  ex-soldiers 
and  sailors  resident  in  Washington  serenaded  Gen 
eral  Logan.  They  assembled  at  the  City  Hall, 
and,  forming  in  platoons  of  twelve,  marched, 
headed  by  the  Marine  Band,  to  the  General's  resi 
dence,  where  a  crowd  of  two  or  three  thousand 
citizens  had  already  assembled.  The  proces 
sion  was  liberally  supplied  with  banners,  rock 
ets,  Roman  candles  and  noise-making  devices. 


360  LIFE    OF   JAMES    G.  BLAINE. 

The  banner  of  the  Army  of  the  Tennessee  was 
displayed  from  an  upper  window  of  General 
Logan's  house.  General  Logan's  appearance  was 
greeted  with  a  storm  of  -cheers.  When  the 
applause  had  subsided,  he  was  introduced  in  a 
brief  speech  by  General  Green  B.  Raum.  Gen 
eral  Logan  then  addressed  the  assemblage  as 
follows  : 

''Comrades  and  fellow-citizens:  The  warm 
expressions  of  confidence  and  congratulations 
which  you  offer  me  through  your  chairman, 
impress  me  with  a  deep  sense  of  gratitude,  and  I 
beg  to  tender  my  sincerest  thanks  to  one  and  all 
of  my  participating  friends  for  this  demonstration 
of  kindness  and  esteem.  Your  visit  at  this  time, 
gentlemen,  is  interesting  to  me  in  a  double  aspect. 
As  citizens  of  our  common  country,  tendering  a 
tribute  to  me  as  a  public  man,  I  meet  you  with 
genuine  pleasure  and  grateful  acknowledgment. 
Coming,  however,  as  you  do,  in  the  character  of 
representatives  of  the  soldiers  and  sailors  of  our 
country,  your  visit  possesses  a  feature  insensibly 
leading  to  a  train  of  most  interesting  reflections. 
Your  assemblage  is  composed  of  men  who  gave 
up  the  pursuits  of  peace,  relinquished  the  com 
forts  of  home,  severed  the  ties  of  friendship  and 
yielded  the  gentle  and  loving  society  of  father, 
mother,  sister,  brother  and,  in  many  instances, 
wife  and  little  ones,  to  brave  the  dangers  of  the 
tented  field  or  the  crested  wave,  to  run  the  gaunt- 


CONGRATULATIONS    AND    REJOICING.  361 

let  of  sickness  in  c-limates  different  from  your  own, 
and  possibly,  or  even  probably,  to  yield  up  life 
itself  in  the  service  of  your  country. 

"  Twenty-three  years  ago,  gentlemen,  when 
dread  war  raised  his  wrinkled  front  throughout 
the  land,  many  of  you  were  standing  with  one 
foot  on  the  portal  of  manhood,  eager  for  the  con 
flict  with  the  world  which  promised  to  bring  you 
honor,  riches  and  friends,  and  a  life  of  peace  and 
ease  in  the  society  of  your  own  family.  But  few 
of  you  had  passed  the  period  of  young  manhood 
or  advanced  to  the  opening  scene  of  middle  life. 
At  the  call,  however,  of  your  endangered  country 
you  did  not  hesitate  to  leave  everything  for  which 
we  strive  in  this  world  to  become  defenders  of 
the  Union,  without  the  incentive  which  has 
inspired  men  of  other  nations  to  adopt  a 
military  career  as  a  permanent  occupation,  and 
as  an  outlet  to  ambition  and  an  ascent  to  power. 

"  The  safety  of  our  country  having  been  assured, 
and  its  territorial  integrity  preserved,  you 
sheathed  the  sword,  unfixed  the  bayonet,  laid 
away  the  musket,  housed  the  cannon,  doffed  your 
uniforms,  donned  the  garments  of  civil  life,  buried 
hatred  towards  our  brothers  of  the  South,  and 
shook  hands  in  testimony  of  a  mutual  resolve  to 
rehabilitate  the  waste  places  and  cultivate  the  arts 
of  peace,  until  our  re-united  country  should  be 
greater,  prouder  and  grander  than  ever. 

"  Those  years  have  glided  into  the  retreating 


362  LIFE    OF   JAMES    G.  ELAINE. 

perspective  of  the  past  since  you  responded  to 
your  country's  call,  and  mighty  changes  in  the 
eventful  march  of  nations  have  taken  place. 

This  passing  time  has  laid  its  gentle  lines  upon 
the  heads  of  many  of  you  who  shouldered  your 
muskets  before  the  first  beard  was  grown.  But 
however  lightly  or  however  heavily  it  has  dealt 
with  you,  your  soldiers'  and  sailors'  organizations 
that  have  been  kept  up  prove  that  the  heart  has 
been  untouched,  and  that  your  love  of  country 
has  but  been  intensified  with  the  advancing  years. 
Your  arms  have  been  as  strong  and  your  voices 
as  clear  in  the  promotion  of  peace  as  when  lent 
to  the  science  of  war,  and  the  interest  which  you 
take  in  national  affairs  proves  that  you  are  patriot 
ically  determined  to  maintain  what  you  fought  for, 
and  that  which  our  lost  comrades  gave  up  their 
lives  to  secure  for  the  benefit  of  those  who 
survived  them. 

"  During  the  past  twenty  years,  in  which  we 
have  been  blessed  with  peace,  the  Republican 
party  has  been  continued  in  the  administration  of 
die  Government.  When  the  great  question  of 
preserving  or  giving  up  the  Union  of  the  States 
was  presented  to  us  it  was  the  Republican  party 
which  affirmed  its  perpetuation.  I  open  no 
wounds,  nor  do  I  resurrect  any  bad  memories  in 
stating  this  as  an  undeniable  fact.  When  you 
and  I,  my  friends,  and  that  vast  body  of  men, 
who,  having  declared  in  favor  of  preserving  the 


CONGRATULATIONS    AND    REJOICING.  363 

Union,  were  compelled  to  resort  to  the  last 
dread  measure — the  arbitrament  of  war — we  did 
so  under  the  call  of  the  Republican  party.  Many 
of  us  had  been  educated  by  our  fathers  in  the 
Democratic  school  of  politics,  and  many  of  us 
were  acting  with  that  party  at  the  time  the  issue 
of  war  was  presented  to  us. 

"  For  years  the  Democratic  party  had  wielded 
the  destinies  of  our  Government  and  had  served 
its  purpose  under  the  narrower  views  of  an  ideal 
Republic,  which  then  existed.  But  the  matrix  of 
time  has  developed  a  new  child  of  progress  which 
saw  the  glory  of  day  under  the  name  of  the 
Republican  party.  Its  birth  announced  the  con 
ception  of  a  higher,  broader  principle  of  human 
government  than  had  been  entertained  by  our 
forefathers.  But  few  of  us,  perhaps  none,  took  in 
the  full  dimensions  of  the  coming  fact  at  that  early 
day.  It  broke  upon  us  all  gradually,  like  the 
light  of  the  morning  sun  as  he  rises  in  the  misty 
dawn  above  the  sleepy  mountain's  top.  At  length 
it  came  in  full  blaze,  and  for  the  first  time  in  the 
history  of  our  Republic  we  began  to  give  genuine 
vitality  to  the  declaration  of  1776,  'that  all  men 
are  created  equal,'  and  entitled  to  the  inalienable 
rights  of  life,  liberty  and  the  pursuit  of  happiness. 

"The  Republican  party  was  the  unquestionable 
agency  which  bore  these  gifts  to  a  waiting  age, 
and  it  was  the  Democratic  idea  which  disputed 
their  value,  first  upon  the  field  of  battle,  and  sub- 


364  LIFE    OF   JAMES    G.  ELAINE. 

sequently,  and  up  to  this  moment,  at  the  polling 
places  of  the  country.  The  Republican  party, 
then,  repsesents  the  latest  fruition  of  governmental 
progress,  and  is  destined  to  survive  upon  the 
theory  that  the  strong  outlives  the  weak,  until  the 
development  of  principles  still  more  advanced 
shall  compel  it  to  measure  its  step  with  the  march 
of  the  age,  or  go  to  the  wall  as  an  instrument 
which  has  fulfilled  its  destiny.  So  long  as  the 
Democratic  party  shall  cling,  either  in  an  open  or 
covert  manner,  to  the  traditions  and  policy 
belonging  to  an  expired  era  of  our  development, 
just  so  long  will  the  Republican  party  be  charged 
with  the  administration  of  our  Government. 

"  In  making  this  arraignment  of  the  Democracy, 
my  friends,  I  appeal  to  no  passions  nor  reopen 
settled  questions.  I  but  utter  the  calm,  sober 
words  of  truth.  I  say  that  until  every  State  in 
this  broad  and  beneficent  Union  shall  give  free 
recognition  to  the  civil  and  political  rights  of  the 
humblest  of  its  citizens,  whatever  his  color  ;  until 
protection  to  American  citizens  follows  the  flag  at 
home  and  abroad  ;  until  the  admirable  monetary 
system  established  by  the  Republican  party  shall 
be  placed  beyond  danger  of  subversion  ;  until 
American  labor  and  industry  shall  be  protected 
by  wise  and  equitable  laws,  so  as  to  give  full  scope 
to  our  immense  resources  and  place  every  man 
upon  the  plane  to  which  he  is  entitled  by  reason 
of  his  capacity  and  worth  ;  until  education  shall 


CONGRATULATIONS    AND    REJOICING.  365 

be  as  general  as  our  civilization;  until  we  shall 
have  established  a  wise  American  policy  that  will 
not  only  preserve  peace  with  other  nations,  but 
will  cause  every  American  citizen  to  honor  his 
government  at  home  and  every  civilized  nation  to 
respect  our  flag  ;  until  the  American  people  shall 
permanently  establish  a  thoroughly  economic  sys 
tem  upon  the  American  idea  which  will  preserve 
and  foster  their  own  interests,  uninfluenced  by 
English  theories  or  "  Cobden  Clubs,"  and  until 
it  is  conceded  beyond  subsequent  revocation  that 
this  government  exists  upon  the  basis  of  a  self- 
sustaining,  self-preserving  nation,  and  the  fatal 
doctrine  of  "Independent  States  Sovereignty," 
upon  which  the  civil  war  was  founded,  shall  be 
stamped  as  a  political  heresy,  out  of  which  con 
tinued  revolution  is  born  and  wholly  incompatible 
with  that  idea  of  a  republic,  the  Republican  party 
will  have  much  work  to  do  and  an  unfulfilled  mis 
sion  to  perform. 

"The  standard-bearer  of  the  party  in  the  ensu 
ing  campaign  is  the  Hon.  James  G.  Elaine,  known 
throughout  the  land  as  one  of  its  truest  and  ablest 
representatives.  He  has  been  called  to  this  posi 
tion  by  the  voice  of  the  people,  in  recognition  of 
his  especial  fitness  for  the  trust  and  in  admiration 
of  the  surprising  combination  of  brilliancy,  cour 
age,  faithfulness,  persistency  and  research  that 
has  made  him  one  of  the  most  remarkable  figures 
which  has  appeared  upon  the  forum  of  statescraft 


22 


366  LIFE   OF    JAMES    G.    BLAINE. 

in  any  period  of  this  country ;  that  such  a  man 
should  have  enemies  and  detractors  is  as  natural' 
as  that  our  best  fruits  should  be  infested  with 
parasites  or  that  there  should  exist  small  and  envi 
ous  minds  which  seek  to  belittle  that  which  they 
can  never  hope  to  imitate  or  equal  ;  and  that  he 
shall  triumph  over  these  and  lead  the  Republican 
hearts  to  another  victory  in  November  is  as  cer 
tain  as  the  succession  of  the  seasons  or  the  rolling 
of  the  spheres  in  their  courses.  Gentlemen,  again 
I  thank  you  for  this  visit  of  congratulation  and 
extend  to  you,  one  and  all,  my  grateful  acknowl 
edgments." 

General  Logan  was  frequently  interrupted  with 
applause,  particularly  enthusiastic  at  his  reference 
to  our  reunited  country,  greater,  grander  than 
before  ;  the  mission  of  the  Republican  party  to 
preserve  peace  with  foreign  nations  and  make  our 
flag  everywhere  respected,  and  to  Mr.  Elaine  as 
the  standard-bearer  of  the  party.  The  speech-, 
making  was  continued  to  a  late  hour.  Among 
the  orators,  who  were  all  ex-soldiers,  were  Sena 
tors  Plumb  and  Harrison,  General  Cutcheon,  of 
Michigan  ;  General  Nathan  Goff,  of  West  Vir 
ginia  ;  Hon.  A.  H.  Pettibone,  of  Tennessee,  and 
General  T.  M.  Bayne,  of  Pennsylvania. 


CHAPTER  VII. 

NOTIFICATION    OF   THE    NOMINEES. 

AT  an  early  hour  on  the  morning  of  Saturday, 
June  2ist,  the  streets  of  Augusta,  Me.,  began  to 
assume  a  lively  appearance,  and  long  before  the 
hour  set  for  the  committee  appointed  by  the 
National  Convention  to  notify  Mr.  Elaine  of  his 
nomination  to  the  Presidential  candidacy  of  the 
Republican  party  to  perform  that  duty,  a  consid 
erable  crowd  of  citizens  collected  around  the 
\ugusta  House  to  gaze  upon  the  members  of 
this  distinguished  body. 

Promptly  at  eleven  o'clock  the  national  com 
mittee  of  notification  proceeded  in  a  body  to  Mr. 
Elaine's  residence,  where  they  were  received  by 
Mrs.  Elaine.  As  the  day  was  very  warm,  and 
the  rooms  of  the  mansion  were  crowded  almost 
to  suffocation,  it  was  suggested  that  the  presenta 
tion  of  the  addresses  be  made  upon  the  lawn. 
Accordingly,  the  committee  and  guests  proceeded 
to  a  well-shaded  portion  of  the  grounds,  where  a 
circle  was  formed  and  all  present  stood  with 
uncovered  heads,  making  an  impressive  scene, 
the  rustling  of  spreading  branches  of  great  elms 

367 


368  LIFE    OF   JAMES    G.    ELAINE. 

and  the  buzzing  of  insects  being  the  only  sounds 
to  disturb  the  stillness. 

When  all  was  in  readiness  Mr.  Blaine  was 
escorted  to  the  lawn,  where  he  stood  within  the 
arc  of  the  semi-circle,  General  Henderson  then 
stepped  forward  and  presented  the  address  of  the 
committee.  Reading  from  manuscript,  he  spoke 
as  follows  : 

"  Mr.  Blaine,  your  nomination  for  the  office  of  the  Presi 
dent  of  the  United  States  by  the  National  Republican 
Convention  recently  assembled  at  Chicago  is  already 
known  to  you.  The  gentlemen  before  you,  constituting 
the  committee  composed  of  one  member  from  each  State 
and  Territory  of  the  country,  and  one  from  the  District 
of  Columbia,  now  come,  as  the  accredited  organ  of  that 
convention,  to  give  you  formal  notice  of  nomination  and 
request  your  acceptance  thereof.  It  is,  of  course,  known 
to  you  that,  beside  your  own,  several  other  names,among 
the  most  honored  in  the  councils  of  the  Republican  party, 
were  presented  by  their  friends  as  candidates  for  this 
nomination.  Between  your  friends  and  friends  of  gentle 
men  so  justly  entitled  to  the  respect  and  confidence  of 
their  political  associates,  the  contest  was  one  of  generous 
rivalry,  free  from  any  taint  of  bitterness  and  equally  free 
from  the  reproach  of  injustice. 

"  At  an  early  stage  of  the  proceedings  of  the  Convention 
it  became  manifest  that  the  Republican  States,  whose  aid 
must  be  invoked  at  last  to  insure  success  to  the  ticket, 
earnestly  desired  your  nomination.  It  was  equally  mani 
fest  that  the  desire  so  earnestly  expressed  by  delegates 
from  those  States  was  but  a  truthful  reflection  of  an  irre 
sistible  popular  demand.  It  was  not  thought  nor  pre- 


NOTIFICATION    OF    THE    NOMINEES.  369 

tended  that  this  demand  had  its  origin  in  any  ambitious 
desires  of  your  own,  or  in  organized  work  of  your  friends, 
but  it  was  recognized  to  be  what  it  truthfully  is,  a  spon 
taneous  expression  by  free  people  of  love  and  admiration 
of  a  chosen  leader.  No  nomination  would  have  given 
satisfaction  to  every  member  of  the  party.  This  is  not 
to  be  expected  in  a  country  so  extended  in  area  and  so 
varied  in  interests.  The  nomination  of  Mr.  Lincoln  in 
1860  disappointed  so  many  hopes  and  overthrew  so 
many  cherished  ambitions  that  for  a  short  time  disaffec 
tion  threatened  to  ripen  in  open  revolt.  In  1 872  discon 
tent  was  so  pronounced  as  to  impel  large  masses  of  the 
party  in  organized  opposition  to  its  nominees.  For  many 
weeks  after  the  nomination  of  General  Garfield,  in  1880, 
defeat  seemed  almost  inevitable. 

"  In  each  case  the  shock  of  disappointment  was  fol 
lowed  by  sober  second  thought.  Individual  preferences 
gradually  yielded  to  convictions  of  public  duty.  Prompt 
ings  of  patriotism  finally  rose  superior  to  irritations  and 
animosities  of  the  hour.  The  party  in  every  trial  has 
grown  stronger  in  the  face  of  threatened  danger.  In  ten 
dering  you  the  nomination  it  gives  us  pleasure  to  remem 
ber  that  those  great  measures  which  furnished  causes  for 
party  congratulations  by  the  late  convention  at  Chicago, 
and  which  are  now  crystallized  into  the  legislation  of  the 
country,  measures  which  have  strengthened  and  dignified 
the  nation,  while  they  have  elevated  and  advanced  the 
people,  at  all  times  and  on  all  proper  occasions,  received 
your  earnest  and  valuable  support.  It  was  your  good 
fortune  to  aid  in  protecting  the  nation  against  the  assaults 
of  armed  treason.  You  were  present  and  helped  to 
unloose  the  shackles  of  the  slave.  You  assisted  in 
placing  new  guarantees  of  freedom  in  the  Federal  Con 
stitution.  Your  voice  was  potent  in  preserving  national 


370  LIFE    OF   JAMES    G.    ELAINE. 

faith  when  false  theories  of  finance  would  have  blasted 
national  and  individual  prosperity.  We  kindly  remem 
ber  you  as  the  fast  friend  of  honest  money  and  commer 
cial  integrity  In  all  that  pertains  to  security  and  repose 
of  capital,  dignity  of  labor,  manhaod  elevation  and  free 
dom  of  people,  right  of  the  oppressed  to  demand  and 
duty  of  the  Government  to  afford  protection,  your  public 
acts  have  received  the  unqualified  indorsement  of  popular 
approval.  But  we  are  not  unmindful  of  the  fact  that 
parties,  like  individuals,  cannot  live  on  the  past,  however 
splendid  the  record.  The  present  is,  ever  charged  with 
its  immediate  cares,  and  the  future  presses  on  with  its 
new  duties,  its  perplexing  responsibilities.  Parties,  like 
individuals,  however,  that  are  free  from  stain  of  violated 
faith  in  the  past,  are  fairly  entitled  to  presumption  of 
sincerity  in  their  promises  for  the  future. 

"  Among  the  promises  made  by  the  party  in  its  late 
convention  at  Chicago  are  economy  and  purity  of  admin 
istration  ;  protection  of  citizens,  native  and  naturalized, 
at  home  and  abroad ;  the  prompt  restoration  of  the  navy  ; 
a  wise  reduction  of  surplus  revenue,  relieving  the  tax 
payers  without  injuring  the  laborer;  preservation  of 
public  lands  for  actual  settlers ;  import  duties,  when 
necessary  at  all,  to  be  levied,  not  for  revenue  only,  but  for 
the  double  purpose  of  revenue  and  protection ;  regulation 
of  internal  commerce ;  settlement  of  international  differ 
ences  by  peaceful  arbitration,  but  coupled  with  the 
reassertion  and  maintenance  of  the  Monroe  doctrine  as 
interpreted  by  the  fathers  of  the  republic ;  perseverance 
in  the  good  work  of  civil  service  reform,  to  the  end  that 
dangers  to  free  institutions  which  lurk  in  power  of 
official  patronage  may  be  wisely  and  effectually  avoided  ; 
honest  currency  based  on  coin  of  intrinsic  value,  adding 
strength  to  the  public  credit  and  giving  renewed  vitality 


NOTIFICATION    OF    THE    NOMINEES.  371 

to  every  branch  of  American  industry.  Mr.  Elaine,  dur 
ing  the  last  twenty-three  years  the  Republican  party  has 
builded  a  new  republic — a  republic  far  more  splendid 
than  that  originally  designed  by  our  fathers.  Its  pro 
portions,  already  grand,  may  yet  be  enlarged ;  its 
foundations  may  yet  be  strengthened  and  its  columns  be 
adorned  with  beauty  more  resplendent  still.  To  you,  as 
its  architect  in  chief,  will  soon  be  assigned  this  grateful 
work." 

During  this  address  Mr.  Elaine  stood  under  a 
shady  elm,  his  arms  folded  across  his  chest  and 
his  eyes  intently  fixed  on  the  ground.  At  the 
conclusion  his  son,  Walker  Elaine,  stepped 
forward  and  handed  him  a  manuscript,  from  which 
he  read  the  following  reply : 

"Mr.  Chairman  and  gentlemen  of  the  National 
Committee :  I  receive  not  without  deep  sensibility 
your  official  notice  of  the  action  of  the  National 
Convention  already  brought  to  my  knowledge  by 
the  public  press.  I  appreciate  more  profoundly 
than  I  can  express  the  honor  which  is  implied  in 
the  nomination  for  the  Presidency  by  the  Repub 
lican  party  of  the  nation,  speaking  through  the 
authoritative  voice  of  duly  accredited  delegates. 
To  be  selected  as  a  candidate  by  such  an 
assemblage  from  lists  of  eminent  statesmen  whose 
names  were  presented  fills  me  with  embarrassment. 
I  can  only  express  my  gratitude  for  so  signal  an 
honor,  and  my  desire  to  prove  worthy  of  the  great 
trust  reposed  in  me.  In  accepting  the  nomination, 


372  LIFE    OF   JAMES    G.    ELAINE. 

as  I  now  do,  I  am  impressed,  I  am  also  oppressed, 
with  the  sense  of  the  labor  and  the  responsibility 
which  attach  to  my  position.  The  burden  is 
lightened,  however,  by  the  host  of  earnest  men 
who  support  my  candidacy,  many  of  whom  add, 
as  does  your  honorable  committee,  cheer  of 
personal  friendship  to  the  pledge  of  political  fealty. 
More  formal  acceptance  will  naturally  be  expected, 
and  will  in  due  season  be  communicated.  It 
may,  however,  not  be  inappropriate  at  this  time 
to  say  that  I  have  already  made  a  careful  study  of 
the  principles  announced  by  the  National  Conven 
tion,  and  that  in  whole  and  in  detail  they  have  my 
heartiest  sympathy  and  meet  my  unqualified 
approval.  Apart  from  your  official  errand, 
gentlemen,  I  am  extremely  happy  to  welcome 
you  all  to  my  house.  With  many  of  you  I  have 
already  shared  duties  of  public  service,  and  have 
enjoyed  most  cordial  friendship.  I  trust  your 
journey  from  all  parts  of  this  great  Republic  has 
been  agreeable,  and  that  during  your  stay  in 
Maine  you  will  feel  you  are  not  among  strangers, 
but  with  friends.  Invoking  blessings  of  Gocl  upon 
the  great  cause  which  we  jointly  represent,  let  us 
trust  to  the  future,  without  fear  and  with  manly 
hearts." 

At  the  conclusion  of  Mr.  Blaine's  reply,  the 
members  of  the  committee  were  introduced  to 
him  individually,  and  an  hour  was  spent  in  social 
informal  converse.  The  members  of  the  commit- 


NOTIFICATION    OF   THE    NOMINEES.  373 

tee  then  repaired  to  the  residence  of  Colonel  H. 
S.  Osgood,  where  they  were  entertained  at  lunch, 
and  at  one  o'clock  they  left  for  Portland.  The 
committee  arrived  at  Portland  shortly  after  three 
o'clock,  and  were  received  by  a  delegation  of  the 
citizens'  committee  and  escorted  to  the  Falmouth 
Hotel  in  carriages.  At  a  later  hour  they  were 
driven  about  the  city.  In  the  evening  there  was 
a  mass  meeting  at  the  City  Hall  to  greet  them, 
after  which  they  took  a  special  train  for  Boston, 
whence  they  started  southward  to  meet  the  nomi 
nee  for  the  Vice-Presidency,  and  to  discharge  the 
official  duty  due  in  his  case. 

At  noon  on  Tuesday,  June  24th,  the  National 
Committee  of  Notification  met  in  a  parlor  of  the 
Arlington  Hotel,  at  Washington,  to  prepare  the 
formal  address  to  General  Logan.  Mr.  Meldrum, 
of  Wyoming,  was  chosen  secretary,  and  the  com 
mittee,  after  reading  and  accepting  an  address 
prepared  by  the  chairman,  sent  word  to  General 
Logan  that  they  would  wait  upon  him  immediately. 
The  messenger  having  returned  with  the  reply 
that  General  Logan  was  ready  to  receive  them,  the 
committee  proceeded  to  his  house. 

The  General  stood  in  the  middle  of  the  room, 
Mrs.  Logan  at  his  right  hand,  and  was  introduced 
to  the  members  of  the  committee  by  the  chairman. 
When  this  ceremony  had  been  performed,  the  com 
pany  arranged  themselves  in  a  circle  around  the 
room  to  hear  the  address.  General  Logan  stood 


374  LIFE    OF   JAMES    G.    ELAINE. 

leaning  with  one  hand  upon  a  table,  and  Mrs. 
Logan,  who  was  the  only  lady  present,  stood 
opposite,  her  face  radiant  and  her  head  nodding 
assent  to  the  emphasized  parts  of  the  speech 
delivered  by  the  chairman.  Mr.  Henderson  read 
as  follows : 

"  Senator  Logan  : — The  gentlemen  present  constitute  a 
committee  of  the  Republican  Convention  recently  assem 
bled  at  Chicago,  charged  with  the  duty  of  communicating 
to  you  the  formal  notice  of  your  nomination  by  that  con 
vention  as  a  candidate  for  Vice  President  of  the  United 
States.  You  are  not  unaware  of  the  fact  that  your  name 
was  presented  to  the  Convention  and  urged  by  a  large 
number  of  the  delegates  as  a  candidate  for  President. 
So  soon,  however,  as  it  became  apparent  that  Mr.  Elaine, 
your  colleague  on  the  ticket,  was  the  choice  of  the  party 
for  that  high  office,  your  friends,  with  those  of  other 
competitors,  promptly  yielded  their  individual  preferences 
to  this  manifest  wish  of  the  majority.  In  tendering  you 
this  nomination  we  are  able  to  assure  you  it  was  made 
without  opposition,  and  with  an  enthusiasm  seldom  wit 
nessed  in  the  history  of  nominating  conventions. 

"  We  are  gratified  to  know  that  in  a  career  of  great  use 
fulness  and  distinction  you  have  most  effectively  aided  in 
the  enactment  of  those  measures  of  legislation  and  of 
constitutional  reform  in  which  the  Convention  found 
special  cause  for  hearty  congratulation.  The  principles 
enunciated  in  the  platform  adopted  will  be  recognized  by 
you  as  the  same  which  have  so  long  governed  and  con 
trolled  your  political  conduct.  The  pledges  made  by 
the  party  find  guaranty  of  performance  in  the  fidelity 
with  which  you  have  heretofore  discharged  every  trust 


NOTIFICATION    OF    THE    NOMINEES.  375 

confided  to  your  keeping.  In  your  election  the  people 
of  this  country  will  furnish  new  proof  of  the  excellence  of 
our  institutions.  Without  wealth,  without  help  from 
others,  without  any  resources,  except  those  of  the  heart, 
conscience,  intellect,  energy  and  courage,  you  have  won 
a  high  place  in  the  world's  history  and  secured  the  con 
fidence  and  affection  of  your  countrymen.  Being  one  of 
the  people,  your  sympathies  are  with  the  people.  In 
civil  life  your  chief  care  has  been  to  better  their  condi 
tion,  to  secure  their  rights  and  to  perpetuate  their  liber 
ties. 

"When  the  government  was  threatened  by  armed  treason 
you  entered  its  service  as  a  private,  became  a  commander 
of  armies  and  are  now  the  idol  of  the  citizen  soldiers  of 
the  republic.  Such,  in  the  judgment  of  your  party,  is 
the  candidate  it  has  selected,  and  in  behalf  of  that  party 
we  ask  you  to  accept  its  nomination." 

After  a  brief  interval,  General  Logan  turned  to 
the  table,  took  up  a  few  sheets  of  manuscript  and 
read  his  reply  as  follows  : 

"  Mr.  Chairman  and  gentlemen  of  the  Committee  :  I 
receive  your  visit  with  pleasure  and  accept  with  gratitude 
the  sentiments  you  have  so  generously  expressed  in  the 
discharge  of  the  duty  with  which  you  have  been  entrusted 
by  the  National  Republican  Convention.  Intending  to 
address  you  a  formal  communication  shortly  in  accord 
ance  with  the  recognized  usage,  it  would  be  out  of  place 
to  detain  you  at  this  time  with  remarks  which  properly 
belong  to  the  official  utterances  of  a  letter  of  acceptance. 
I  may  be  permitted  to  say,  however, -that  though  I  did 
not  seek  the  nomination  of  Vice  President,  I  accept  it  as 
a  trust  reposed  in  me  by  the  Republican  party,  to  the 


5/6  LIFE    OF    JAMES    G.  •  ELAINE. 

advancement  of  whose  broad  policy  upon  all  questions 
connected  with  the  progress  of  our  government  and  our 
people  I  have  dedicated  my  best  energies ;  and  with  this 
acceptance  I  may  properly  signify  my  approval  of  the 
platform  of  principles  adopted  by  the  Convention.  I  am 
deeply  sensible  of  the  honor  conferred  upon  me  by  my 
friends  so  unanimously  tendering  me  this  nomination,  and 
I  sincerely  thank  them  for  this  tribute.  lam  not  unmind 
ful  of  the  great  responsibilities  attaching  to  the  office  and 
if  elected  I  shall  enter  upon  the  performance  of  its  duties 
with  the  firm  conviction  that  he  who  has  such  a  unani 
mous  support  of  his  party  friends  as  the  circumstances 
connected  with  the  nomination  and  your  own  words,  Mr. 
Chairman,  indicate,  and  consequently  such  a  wealth  of 
counsel  to  draw- upon,  cannot  fail  in  the  proper  discharge 
of  the  duties  committed  to  him.  I  tenderyou  my  thanks, 
Mr.  Chairman,  for  the  kind  expressions  you  have  made, 
and  I  offer  you  and  your  fellow  committeemen  my  most 
cordial  greeting." 

When  General  Logan  had  concluded  the  chair 
man  stepped  forward  and  shook  him  by  the  hand, 
as  did  the  other  members  of  the  committee,  and 
mutual  congratulations  were  exchanged.  Mrs. 
Logan  warmly  thanked  Chairman  Henderson  for 
the  sentiments  conveyed  in  his  address.  The 
members  of  the  committee  then  took  their  leave, 
with  the  exception  of  a  few,  who  remained  in  con 
versation  with  the  General  and  his  wife. 


CHAPTER  VIII. 

LETTERS  OF  ACCEPTANCE. 

A  CANDIDATE'S  letter  of  acceptance  is  justly 
deemed  a  matter  of  momentous  importance.  It 
is  an  utterance  made  in  full  view  of  all  the  facts 
in  the  case.  Omissions  of  valuable  points,  or 
unhappy  statements  of  any  points,  are  damaging 
beyond  recall.  No  wonder,  therefore,  that  both 
the  nominees  of  the  Republican  party  took  ample 
time  to  prepare  for  this  ordeal  of  a  written  and 
authoritative  acceptance  of  the  posts  tendered. 

As  these  sheets  go  to  press,  the  important 
documents  are  not  yet  made  public.  All  fore- 
shadowings  of  their  import  are  presumptive, 
perhaps  visionary  ;  but  Mr.  Elaine's  letter,  it  is  said 
by  those  who  are  familiar  with  the  proposed  scope 
of  that  important  document,  will  be  one  of  the 
most  comprehensive,  spirited  and  appropriate 
papers  of  the  kind  ever  given  to  the  public.  It  is 
understood  that  it  will  anticipate  the  great  doc 
trines  of  administration  which  would  be  applied, 
in  event  of  success,  to  National  affairs,  and  par 
ticularly  with  reference  to  the  stimulation  and 
establishment  of  wider  fields  for  commercial  and 
industrial  enterprise  and  the  promulgation  of  a 

377 


LETTERS   OF   ACCEPTANCE. 

foreign  policy  which  would  be  in  its  highest  and 
broadest  sense  American,  and  a  home  policy  both 
vigorous  and  progressive,  on  the  one  hand  mind 
ful  of  every  established  interest  of  the  people,  and 
on  the  other  aiming  at  more  extended  develop 
ment.  In  a  word,  the  position  of  the  standard- 
bearer  of  the  Republican  party  will  be  essentially 
American.  His  aim  will  evidently  be  to  place  the 
party  under  his  leadership  upon  the  platform  of 
American  destiny  in  the  fullest  sense  of  the  term, 
commercial,  mercantile,  industrial,  social,  eco 
nomic  and  diplomatic,  and  in  contradistinction  to 
the  domination  of  principles  of  an  economic  and 
social  nature,  essentially  un-American  and  Eng 
lish.  It  may  force  the  issue  of  American  destiny 
versus  English  influence.  It  is  apparent  that  the 
letter  will  draw  the  lines  of  National  and  individ 
ual  interest  sharply,  and  will  result  in  a  campaign 
in  which  the  people  will  have  full  scope  for  that 
discriminating  judgment  which  of  late  years  has 
so  largely  characterized  the  public  verdict  on 
questions  involving  the  public  weal. 

General  Logan's  letter  of  acceptance  will  go 
beyond  the  usual  limits  of  a  mere  formal  recogni 
tion  of  the  honor  conferred  upon  him  by  the  Con 
vention.  It  has  often  happened  that  the  second 
place  has  been  filled  by  men  of  inferior  calibre  or 
of  a  second-rate  place  in  National  matters.  The 
long  association  of  General  Logan  with  public  af 
fairs  warrant  him  in  treating  his  nomination  as  an 


LETTERS   OF   ACCEPTANCE.  379 

occasion  for  observations  upon  public  questions, 
and  he  is  capable  of  such  discussion.  Clear 
headed  and  true-hearted,  he  clarifies  and  bright 
ens  whatever  he  grasps. 

It  is  expected  also  that  both  candidates  will 
enforce  their  letters  by  their  deeds.  Both  are 
able  organizers,  speakers,  and  workers,  and  if 
the  prophecy  that  they  will  "  make  things  hum" 
is  not  realized,  it  will  not  be  for  lack  of  power  in 
either  of  the  candidates. 


BIOGRAPHICAL   SKETCHES 


ALL    THE     PRESIDENTS 


UNITEJJ     STATES. 


381 


OUR  FORMER  PRESIDENTS 
A  BIRD'S-EYE  VIEW  OF  THE  NATION'S  HISTORY. 


GEORGE  WASHINGTON, 

FIRST  President  of  the  United  States,  was 
born  in  Westmoreland  County,  Virginia, 
on  the  22d  of  February,  1732.  He  was 
the  son  of  Augustine  Washington,  a  wealthy 
planter,  and  his  second  wife,  Mary  Ball.  John 
Washington,  the  great-grandfather  of  the  illus 
trious  subject  of  this  sketch,  emigrated  from  Eng 
land  and  settled  in  Virginia  about  1657.  George 
Washington's  father  died  when  he  was  in  his 
eleventh  year,  leaving  him  in  the  care  of  his 
mother,  a  woman  of  marked  strength  of  charac 
ter.  She  was  worthy  of  her  trust.  From  her  he 
acquired  that  self-restraint,  love  of  order,1  and 
strict  regard  for  justice  and  fair  dealing,  which, 
with  his  inherent  probity  and  truthfulness,  formed 
the  basis  of  a  character  rarely  equaled  for  its 
simple,  yet  commanding  nobleness. 

Apart  from  his  mother's  training,  the  youthful 
Washington  received  only  the  ordinary  country- 

385 


^>g5  OUR  FORMER  PRESIDENTS. 

school  education  of  the  time,  never  having  attended 
college,  or  taken  instruction  in  the  ancient  lan 
guages.  He  had  no  inclination  for  any  but  the 
most  practical  studies,  but  in  these  he  was  remark 
ably  precocious.  When  barely  sixteen  Lord  Fair 
fax,  who  had  become  greatly  interested  in  the 
promising  lad,  engaged  him  to  survey  his  vast 
estates  lying  in  the  wilderness  west  of  the  Blue 
Ridge.  So  satisfactory  was  his  performance  of 
this  perilous  and  difficult  task,  that,  on  its  comple 
tion,  he  was  appointed  Public  ^  Surveyor.  This 
office  he  held  for  three  years,  acquiring  consider 
able  pecuniary  benefits,  as  well  as  a  knowledge 
of  the  country,  which  was  of  value  to  him  in  his 
subsequent  military  career. 

When  only  nineteen,  Washington  was  appointed 
Military  Inspector  of  one  of  the  districts  into  which 
Virginia  was  then  divided.  In  November,  1753, 
he  was  sent  by  Governor  Dinwiddie  on  a  mission 
to  the  French  posts,  near  the  Ohio  River,  to  ascer 
tain  the  designs  of  France  in  that  quarter.  It  was 
a  mission  of  hardship  and  peril,  performed  with 
rare  prudence,  sagacity,  and  resolution.  Its  bril 
liant  success  laid  the  foundation  of  his  fortunes. 
"From  that  time,"  says  Irving,  "Washington  was 
the  rising  hope  of  Virginia." 

Of  Washington's  services  in  the  resulting  war, 
we  cannot  speak  in  detail.  An  unfortunate  mili 
tary  expedition  to  the  frontier  was  followed  by  a 
campaign  under  Braddock,  whom  he  accompanied 


GEORGE   WASHINGTON. 

as  aid-de-camp,  with  the  rank  of  colonel,  in  his 
march  against  Fort  Duquesne.  That  imprudent 
General,  scorning  the  advice  of  his  youthful  aid, 
met  disastrous  defeat  and  death.  In  the  battle, 
Washington's  coat  was  pierced  by  four  bullets. 
His  bravery  and  presence  of  mind  alone  saved 
the  army  from  total  destruction. 

Washington,  on  his  return,  was  appointed  com- 
mander-in-chief  of  all  the  troops  of  the  colony, 
then  numbering  about  two  thousand  men.  This 

o 

was  in  1755,  when  he  was  but  little  more  than 
twenty-three  years  of  age.  Having  led  the  Vir 
ginia  troops  in  Forbes'  expedition  in  1758,  by 
which  Fort  Duquesne  was  captured,  he  resigned 
his  commission,  and,  in  January,  1759,  married 
Mrs.  Martha  Custis  (nee  Dandridge),  and  settled 
down  at  Mount  Vernon,  on  the  Potomac,  which 
estate  he  had  inherited  from  his  elder  brother 
Lawrence,  and  to  which  he  added  until  it  reached 
some  eight  thousand  acres. 

The  fifteen  years  following  his  marriage  were, 
to  Washington,  years  of  such  happiness  as  is 
rarely  accorded  to  mortals.  It  was  the  halcyon 
period  of  his  life.  His  home  was  the  centre  of  a 
generous  hospitality,  where  the  duties  of  a  busy 
planter  and  of  a  Judge  of  the  County  Court  were 
varied  by  rural  enjoyments  and  social  intercourse. 
He  managed  his  estates  with  prudence  and  econ 
omy.  He  slurred  over  nothing,  and  exhibited, 
even  then,  that  rigid  adherence  to  system  and 


^ gg  OUR  FORMER  PRESIDENTS. 

accuracy  of  detail  which  subsequently  marked  his 
performance  of  his  public  duties. 

In  the  difficulties  which  presently  arose  between 
Great  Britain  and  her  American  Colonies,  Wash 
ington  sympathized  deeply  with  the  latter,  and 
took  an  earnest,  though  not  specially  prominent 
part  in  those  movements  which  finally  led  to  the 
War  of  Independence.  In  the  first  general  Con 
gress  of  the  Colonies,  which  met  in  Philadelphia, 
on  the  5th  of  September,  1774,  we  find  the  name 
of  Washington  among  the  Virginia  Delegates. 
As  to  the  part  he  took  in  that  Congress,  we  can 
only  judge  from  a  remark  made  by  Patrick  Henry, 
also  a  Delegate:  "Colonel  Washington."  said  the 

o  o 

great  orator,  "  was  undoubtedly  the  greatest  man 
on  that  floor,  if  you  speak  of  solid  information  and 
sound  judgment." 

In  the  councils  of  his  native  province,  we  also 
get  glimpses  of  his  calm  and  dignified  presence. 
And  he  is  ever  on  the  side  of  the  Colonies — mod 
erate,  yet  resolute,  hopeful  of  an  amicable  adjust 
ment  of  difficulties,  yet  advocating  measures  look 
ing  to  a  final  appeal  to  arms. 

At  length  the  storm  broke.  The  Battle  of 
Lexington  called  the  whole  country  to  arms. 
While  in  the  East  the  rude  militia  of  New  Eng 
land  beleaguered  Boston  with  undisciplined  but 
stern  determination,  Congress,  in  May,  1775,  met 
a  second  time  in  Philadelphia.  A  Federal  Union 
was  formed  and  an  army  called  for.  As  chair- 


GEORGIA   WASHINGTON.  -^89 

man  of  the  various  Committees  on  Military  Affairs, 
Washington  drew  up  most  of  the  rules  and  regu 
lations  of  the  army,  and  devised  measures  for 
defense.  The  question  now  arose — By  whom 
was  the  army  to  be  led  ?  Hancock,  of  Massa 
chusetts,  was  ambitious  of  the  place.  Sectional 
jealousies  showed  themselves.  Happily,  how 
ever,  Johnson,  of  Maryland,  rising  in  his  seat, 
nominated  Washington.  The  election  was  by 
ballot,  and  unanimous.  Modestly  expressing  sin 
cere  doubts  as  to  his  capability,  Washington 
accepted  the  position  with  thanks,  but  refused  to 
receive  any  salary.  "  I  will  keep  an  exact  account 
of  my  expenses,"  he  said.  "  These  I  doubt  not 
Congress  will  discharge.  That  is  all  I  desire." 

On  the  1 5th  of  June  he  received  his  commis 
sion.  Writing  a  tender  letter  to  his  wife,  he 
rapidly  prepared  to  start  on  the  following  day 
to  the  army  before  Boston.  He  was  now  in  the 
full  vigor  of  manhood,  forty-three  years  of  age, 
tall,  stately,  of  powerful  frame  and  commanding 
presence.  "As  he  sat  his  horse  with  manly 
grace,"  says  Irving,  "his  military  bearing  de 
lighted  every  eye,  and  wherever  he  went  the  air 
rung  with  acclamations." 

On  his  way  to  the  army,  Washington  met  the 
tidings  of  the  Battle  of  Bunker  Hill.  When  told 
how  bravely  the  militia  had  acted,  a  load  seemed 
lifted  from  his  heart.  "The  liberties  of  the  coun 
try  are  safe !"  he  exclaimed.  On  the  2d  of  July 


390 


OUR  FORMER  PRESIDENTS. 


he  took  command  of  the  troops,  at  Cambridge, 
Mass.,  the  entire  force  then  numbering  about 
1 5,000  men.  It  was  not  until  March,  1776,  that 
the  siege  of  Boston  ended  in-  the  withdrawal  of 
the  British  forces.  Washington's  admirable  con 
duct  of  this  siege  drew  forth  the  enthusiastic  ap 
plause  of  the  nation.  Congress  had  a  gold  medal 
struck,  bearing  the  effigy  of  Washington  as  the 
Deliverer  of  Boston. 

Hastening  to  defend  New  York  from  threat 
ened  attack,  Washington  there  received,  on  the 
9th  of  July,  1776,  a  copy  of  the  "Declaration  of 
Independence,"  adopted  by  Congress  five  days 
previously.  On  the  27th  of  the  following  month 
occurred  the  disastrous  battle  of  Long  Island,  the 
misfortunes  of  which  were  retrieved,  however, 
by  Washington's  admirable  retreat,  one  of  the 
most  brilliant  achievements  of  the  war.  Again 
defeated  at  White  Plains,  he  was  compelled  to 
retire  across  New  Jersey.  On  the  7th  of  De 
cember  he  passed  to  the  west  side  of  the  Dela 
ware,  at  the  head  of  a  dispirited  army  of  less  than 
four  thousand  effective  men.  many  of  them  with 
out  shoes,  and  leaving  tracks  of  blood  in  the 
snow.  This  was  the  darkest  period  of  the  war. 
But  suddenly,  as  if  inspired,  Washington,  in  the 
midst  of  a  driving  storm,  on  Christmas  night  re- 
crossing  the  Delaware,  now  filled  with  floating 
ice,  gained  in  rapid  succession  the  brilliant  vic 
tories  of  Trenton  and  Princeton,  thus  changing 


GEORGE   WASHINGTON. 

the  entire  aspect  of  affairs.  Never  were  victories 
better  timed.  The  waning  hopes  of  the  people 
in  their  cause  and  their  commander  were  at  once 
restored  as  if  by  magic. 

It  is  not  possible,  in  this  necessarily  brief 
sketch,  to  give  the  details  of  the  agonizing  strug 
gle  in  which  Washington  and  his  little  army  were 
now  involved.  Superior  numbers  and  equip 
ments  often  inflicted  upon  him  disasters  which 
would  have  crushed  a  less  resolute  spirit. 
Cheered,  however,  by  occasional  glimpses  of  vic 
tory,  and  wisely  taking  advantage  of  what  his 
troops  learned  in  hardship  and  defeat,  he  was  at 
length  enabled,  by  one  sagacious  and  deeply 
planned  movement,  to  bring  the  war  virtually  to 
a  close  in  the  capture  of  the  British  army  of 
7,000  men,  under  Cornwallis,  at  Yorktown,  on 
the  1 9th  of  October,  1781. 

The  tidings  of  the  surrender  of  Cornwallis 
filled  the  country  with  joy.  The  lull  in  the  ac 
tivity  of  both  Congress  and  the  people  was  not 
viewed  with  favor  by  Washington.  It  was  a 
period  of  peril.  Idleness  in  the  army  fostered 
discontents  there,  which  at  one  time  threatened 
the  gravest  mischief.  It  was  only  by  the  utmost 
exertion  that  Washington  induced  the  malcon 
tents  to  turn  a  deaf  ear  to  those  who  were  at 
tempting,  as  he  alleged,  "  to  open  the  flood-gates 
of  civil  discord,  and  deluge  our  rising  empire 
with  blood." 


OUR  FORMER  PRESIDENTS. 

On  September  3d,  1 783,  a  treaty  of  peace  was 
signed  at  Paris,  by  which  the  complete  indepen 
dence  of  the  United  States  was  secured.  On  the 
23d  of  December  following,  Washington  for 
mally  resigned  his  command.  The  very  next 
morninof  he  hastened  to  his  beloved  Mount  Ver- 

o 

non,  arriving  there  that  evening,  in  time  to  enjoy 
the  festivities  which  there  greeted  him. 

Washington  was  not  long  permitted  to  enjoy 
his  retirement.  Indeed,  his  solicitude  for  the  per 
petuity  of  the  political  fabric  he  had  helped  to 
raise  he  could  not  have  shaken  off  if  he  would. 
Unconsciously,  it  might  have  been,  by  his  letters 
to  his  old  friends  still  m  public  life,  he  continued 
to  exercise  a  powerful  influence  on  national  affairs. 
He  was  one  of  the  first  to  propose  a  remodeling 
of  the  Articles  of  Confederation,  which  were  now 
acknowledged  to  be  insufficient  for  their  purpose. 
At  length,  a  convention  of  delegates  from  the 
several  States,  to  form  a  new  Constitution,  met  at 
Philadelphia,  in  May,  1787.  Washington  pre 
sided  over  its  session,  which  was  long  and  stormy. 
After  four  months  of  deliberation  was  formed 
that  Constitution  under  which,  with  some  subse 
quent  amendments,  we  now  live. 

When  the  new  Constitution  was  finally  ratified, 
Washington  was  called  to  the  Presidency  by  the 
unanimous  voice  of  the  people.  In  April,  i  789, 
he  set  out  from  Mount  Vernon  for  New  York, 
then  the  seat  of  Government,  to  be  inaugurated. 


GEORGE   WASHINGTON. 

"  His  progress,"  says  Irving,  "  was  a  continuous 
ovation.  The  ringing  of  bells  and  the  roaring  of 
cannon  proclaimed  his  course.  Old  and  young, 
women  and  children,  thronged  the  highways  to 
bless  and  welcome  him."  His  inauguration  took 

o 

place  April  3Oth,  1 789,  before  an  immense  multi 
tude. 

The  eight  years  of  Washington's  Administra 
tion  were  years  of  trouble  and  difficulty.  The 
two  parties  which  had  sprung  up — the  Federalist 
and  the  Republican — were  greatly  embittered 
against  each  other,  each  charging  the  other  with 
the  most  unpatriotic  designs.  No  other  man  than 
Washington  could  have  carried  the  country  safely 
through  so  perilous  a  period.  His  prudent,  firm, 
yet  conciliatory  spirit,  aided  by  the  love  and  ven 
eration  with  which  the  people  regarded  him,  kept 
down  insurrection  and  silenced  discontent. 

That  he  passed  through  this  trying  period 
safely  cannot  but  be  a  matter  of  astonishment. 
The  angry  partisan  contests,  to  which  we  have 
referred,  were  of  themselves  sufficient  to  dis 
hearten  any  common  man.  Even  Washington  was 
distrustful  of  the  event,  so  fiercely  were  the  par 
tisans  of  both  parties  enlisted — the  Federalists 
clamoring  for  a  stronger  government,  the  Repub 
licans  for  additional  checks  on  the  power  already 
intrusted  to  the  Executive.  Besides,  the  Revolu 
tion  then  raging  in  France  became  a  source  of 
contention.  The  Federalists  sided  with  England, 


OUR  DORMER  PRESIDENTS. 

who  was  bent  on  crushing  that  Revolution;  the 
Republicans,  on  the  other  hand,  sympathized 
deeply  with  the  French  people :  so  that  between 
them  both,  it  was  with  extreme  difficulty  that  the 
President  could  prevent  our  young  Republic,  bur 
dened  with  debt,  her  people  groaning  under  taxes 
necessarily  heavy,  and  with  finances,  commerce, 
and  the  industrial  arts  in  a  condition  of  chaos, 
from  being  dragged  into  a  fresh  war  with  either 
France  or  England. 

But,  before  retiring  from  the  Presidency,  Wash 
ington  had  the  happiness  of  seeing  many  of  the 
difficulties  from  which  he  had  apprehended  so  much, 
placed  in  a  fair  way  of  final  adjustment.  A  finan 
cial  system  was  developed  which  lightened  the 
burden  of  public  debt  and  revived  the  drooping 
energies  of  the  people.  The  country  progressed 
rapidly.  Immigrants  flocked  to  our  shores,  and 
the  regions  west  of  the  Alleghanies  began  to  fill 
up.  New  States  claimed  admission  and  were 
received  into  the  Union — Vermont,  in  1791 ;  Ken 
tucky,  in  1792  ;  and  Tennessee,  in  1796  ;  so  that, 
before  the  close  of  Washington's  second  term,  the 
original  thirteen  States  had  increased  to  sixteen. 

Having  served  two  Presidential  terms,  Wash 
ington,  declining  another  election,  returned  once 
more  to  Mount  Vernon,  "  that  haven  of  repose  to 
which  he  had  so  often  turned  a  wistful  eye,"  bear 
ing  with  him  the  love  and  gratitude  of  his  country 
men,  to  whom,  in  his  memorable  "  Farewell  Ad- 


GEORGE  WASHINGTON.  ^^ 

dress,"  he  bequeathed  a  legacy  of  practical  politi 
cal  wisdom  which  it  will  be  well  for  them  to 
remember  and  profit  by.  In  this  immortal  docu 
ment  he  insisted  that  the  union  of  the  States  was 
"a  main  pillar"  in  the  real  independence  of  the 
people.  He  also  entreated  them  to  "  steer  clear 
of  any  permanent  alliances  with  any  portion  of 
the  foreign  world." 

At  Mount  Vernon  Washington  found  constant 
occupation  in  the  supervision  of  his  various 
estates.  It  was  while  taking  his  usual  round  on 
horseback  to  look  after  his  farms,  that,  on  the  1 2th 
of  December,  1 799,  he  encountered  a  cold,  winter 
storm.  He  reached  home  chill  and  damp.  The 
next  day  he  had  a  sore  throat,  with  some  hoarse 
ness.  By  the  morning  of  the  izjlh  he  could 
scarcely  swallow.  "  I  find  I  am  going,"  said  he  to 
a  friend.  "  I  believed  from  the  first  that  the 
attack  would  be  fatal."  That  night,  between  ten 
and  eleven,  he  expired,  without  a  struggle  or  a 
sigh,  in  the  sixty-eighth  year  of  his  age,  his  disease 
being  acute  laryngitis.  Three  days  afterward 
his  remains  were  deposited  in  the  family  tombs  at 
Mount  Vernon,  where  they  still  repose. 

Washington  left  a  reputation  on  which  there  is 
no  stain.  "  His  character,"  says  Irving,  "possessed 
fewer  inequalities,  and  a  rarer  union  of  virtues 
than  perhaps  ever  fell  to  the  lot  of  one  man. 
*  *  *  It  seems  as  if  Providence  had  endowed 
him  in  a  pre-eminent  degree  with  the  qualities 


396  OUR  DORMER  PRESIDENTS. 

requisite  to  -fit  him  for  the  high  destiny  he  was 
called  upon  to  fulfill." 

In  stature  Washington  was  six  feet  two  inches 
in  height,  well  proportioned,  and  firmly  built. 
His  hair  was  brown,  his  eyes  blue  and  set  far 
apart.  From  boyhood  he  was  famous  for  great 
strength  and  agility.  Jefferson  pronounced  him 
"the  best  horseman  of  his  age,  and  the  most  grace 
ful  figure  that  could  be  seen  on  horseback."  He 
was  scrupulously  neat,  gentlemanly,  and  punctual, 
and  always  dignified  and  reserved. 

In  the  resolution  passed  upon  learning  of  his 
death,  the  National  House  of  Representatives 
described  him  for  the  first  time  in  that  well-known 
phrase,  "  First  in  war,  first  in  peace,  and  first  in 
the  hearts  of  his  countrymen," — a  tribute  which 
succeding  generations  have  continued  to  bestow 
upon  Washington  without  question  or  doubt.  By 
common  consent  to  him  is  accorded  as  pre-emi 
nently  appropriate  the  title;  "  Pater  Patrise," — the 
"  Father  of  his  Country." 

Of  Washington,  Lord  Brougham  says :  "  It  will 
be  the  duty  of  the  historian  and  the  sage,  in  all 
ages,  to  omit  no  occasion  of  commemorating  this 
illustrious  man  ;  and  until  time  shall  be  no  more 
will  a  test  of  the  progress  our  race  has  made  in 
wisdom  and  virtue  be  derived  from  the  veneration 
paid  to  the  immortal  name  of  Washington." 


JOHN  ADAMS.  ^99 


JOHN  ADAMS, 

SECOND  President  of  the    United   States, 
was  born  at  Braintree,  now  Ouincy,  Mass., 
October  i9th,  1735.    He  was  the  eldest  son 
of  John  Adams,  a  farmer,  and  Susanna  Boylston. 
Graduating  from  Harvard  in  1755,  he  studied  law, 
defraying1  his  expenses  by  teaching.    In  1764,  hav 
ing  meanwhile  been  admitted  to  the  bar,  he  mar 
ried  Miss  Abigail  Smith,  a  lady  whose  energy  of 
character  contributed  largely  to   his   subsequent 
advancement. 

As  early  as  1761,  we  find  young  Adams  look 
ing  forward,  with  prophetic  vision,  to  American 
Independence.  When  the  memorable  Stamp  Act 
was  passed  in  1765,  he  joined  heart  and  soul  in 
opposition  to  it.  A  series  of  resolutions  which  he 
drew  up  against  it  and  presented  to  the  citizens  of 
Braintree  was  adopted  also  by  more  than  forty 
other  towns  in  the  Province.  He  took  the  ad 
vanced  grounds  that  it  was  absolutely  void — 
Parliament  having  no  right  to  tax  the  Colonies. 

In  1 768  he  removed  to  Boston.  The  rise  of  the 
young  lawyer  was  now  rapid,  and  he  was  the  lead 
ing  man  in  many  prominent  cases.  When,  in  Sep 
tember,  1774,  the  first  Colonial  Congress  met,  at 
Philadelphia,  Adams  was  one  of  the  five  Delegates 
from  Massachusetts.  In  that  Congress  he  took 
a  prominent  part  He  it  was  who,  on  the  6th  of 


400 


OUR  FORMER  PRESIDENTS. 


May,  1776,  boldly  advanced  upon  the  path  of 
Independence,  by  moving  "  the  adoption  of  such 
measures  as  would  best  conduce  to  the  happiness 
and  safety  of  the  American  people."  It  was 
Adams,  who,  a  month  later,  seconded  the  resolu 
tion  of  Lee,  of  Virginia,  "  that  these  United  States 
are,  and  of  right  ought  to  be,  independent."  It 
was  he  who  uttered  the  famous  words,  "  Sink  or 
swim,  live  or  die,  survive  or  perish,  with  my 
country  is  my  unalterable  determination."  He, 
too,  it  was,  who,  with  Jefferson,  Franklin,  Sher 
man,  and  Livingston,  drew  up  that  famous  "  Dec 
laration  of  Independence,"  which,  adopted  by  Con 
gress  on  the  4th  of  July,  1776,  decided  a  question, 
"  greater,  perhaps,  than  ever  was  or  will  be  de 
cided  anywhere."  During  all  these  years  of 
engrossing  public  duty  he  produced  many  able 
essays  on  the  rights  of  the  Colonies.  These  ap 
peared  in  the  leading  journals  of  the  day  and 
exerted  wide  influence.  The  motion  to  prepare 
a  Declaration  of  Independence  was  opposed  by  a 
strong  party,  to  the  champion  of  which  Adams 
made  reply  and  Jefferson  said,  "John  Adams  was 
the  ablest  advocate  and  champion  of  indepen 
dence  on  the  floor  of  the  House." 

Writing  to  his  wife  on  July  3d,  1776,  and  refer 
ring  to  the  Declaration  of  Independence,  that  day 
adopted,  he  forecast  the  manner  of  that  day's 
celebration  by  bonfires,  fireworks,  etc.,  as  "  the 
great  anniversary  festival."  During  all  the  years 


JOHN  ADAMS.  403 

of  the  war  he  was  a  most  zealous  worker  and  val 
ued  counselor.  After  its  years  of  gloom  and 
trial,  on  the  2ist  of  January,  1783,  he  assisted  in 
the  conclusion  of  a  treaty  of  peace,  by  which 
Great  Britain  acknowledged  the  complete  inde 
pendence  of  the  United  States.  On  the  previous 
October,  he  had  achieved  what  he  ever  regarded 
as  the  greatest  success  of  his  life — the  formation 
of  a  treaty  of  peace  and  alliance  with  Holland, 
which  had  a  most  important  bearing  on  the  nego 
tiations  leading  to  the  final  adjustment  with  Eng 
land. 

He  was  United  States  Minister  to  England  from 
1785  to  1788,  and  Vice-President  during  both  the 
terms  of  Washington.  During  these  years,  as 
presiding  officer  of  the  Senate,  he  gave  no  less 
than  twenty  casting  votes,  all  of  them  on  ques 
tions  of  great  importance,  and  all  supporting  the 
policy  of  the  President.  Mr.  Adams  was  himself 
inaugurated  President  on  the  4th  of  March,  1797, 
having  been  elected  over  Jefferson  by  a  small 
majority.  Thomas  Pinckney  was  nominated  for 
the  Vice-Presidency  with  him,  they  representing 
the  Federal  party,  but  in  the  Electoral  College 
Thomas  Jefferson  received  the  choice  and  became 
Vice-President.  He  retained  as  his  Cabinet  the 
officers  previously  chosen  by  Washington. 

He  came  into  office  at  a  critical  period.  The 
conduct  of  the  French  Directory,  in  refusing  to 
receive  our  ambassadors,  and  in  trying  to  injure 


404  OUR  FORMER  PRESIDENTS. 

our  commerce  by  unjust  decrees,  excited  intense 
ill-feeling,  and  finally  led  to  what  is  known  as  "the 
Quasi  War  "  with  France.  Congress  now  passed 
the  so-called  "Alien  and  Sedition  Laws,"  by  which 
extraordinary  and,  it  is  alleged,  unconstitutional 
powers  were  conferred  upon  the  President. 
Though  the  apprehended  war  was  averted,  the 
odium  of  these  laws  effectually  destroyed  the  pop 
ularity  of  Adams,  who,  on  running  for  a  second 
term,  was  defeated  by  Mr.  Jefferson,  representing 
the  Republicans,  who  were  the  Democratic  party 
of  that  clay.  On  the  4th  of  March,  1801,  he  re 
tired  to  private  life  on  his  farm  near  Ouincy.  His 
course  as  President  had  brought  upon  him  the 
reproaches  of  both  parties,  and  his  days  were 
ended  in  comparative  obscurity  and  neglect.  He 
lived  to  see  his  son,  John  Quincy  Adams,  in  the 
Presidential  chair. 

By  a  singular  coincidence,  the  death  of  Mr. 
Adams  and  that  of  his  old  political  rival,  Jefferson, 
took  place  on  the  same  clay,  and  almost  at  the 
same  hour.  Stranger  still,  it  was  on  July  the  4th, 
1826,  whilst  bells  were  ringing  and  cannon  roar 
ing  to  celebrate  the  fiftieth  Anniversary  of  the 
Declaration  of  Independence,  their  own  immortal 
production,  that  these  two  men  passed  away. 
Mr.  Adams  was  asked  if  he  knew  what  day  it  was. 
"Oh!  yes!"  he  exclaimed,  "It  is  the  Fourth  of 
July.  God  bless  it!  God  bless  you  all !  It  is  a 
great  and  glorious  day!"  and  soon  after  quietly 
expired,  in  the  ninety-first  year  of  his  age. 


THOMAS  JEFFERSON. 

Mr.  Adams  possessed  a  vigorous  and  polished 
intellect,  and  was  one  of  the  most  upright  of  men. 
His  character  was  one  to  command  respect,  rather 
than  to  win  affection.  There  was  a  certain  lack 
of  warmth  in  his  stately  courtesy  which  seemed 
to  forbid  approach.  Yet  nobody,  we  are  told, 
could  know  him  intimately  without  admiring  the 
simplicity  and  truth  which  shone  in  all  his  actions. 


THOMAS   JEFFERSON. 

THOMAS  JEFFERSON,  who  succeeded 
Adams  as  President,  was  born  at  Shadwell, 
Albermarle  County,  Va.,  April  2d,  1743. 
Peter  Jefferson,  his  father,  was  a  man  of  great 
force  of  character  and  of  remarkably  powerful 
physique.  His  mother,  Jane  Randolph,  was  from 
a  most  respectable  English  family.  He  was  the 
eldest  of  eight  children.  He  became  a  classical 
student  when  a  mere  boy,  and  entered  college  in 
an  advanced  class  when  but  seventeen  years  of 
age.  Having  passed  through  college,  he  studied 
law  under  Judge  Wythe,  and  in  1767  commenced 
practice.  In  1769,  he  was  elected  to  the  Virginia 
Legislature.  Three  years  later,  he  married  Mrs. 
Martha  Skelton,  a  rich,  handsome,  and  accom 
plished  young  widow,  with  whom  he  went  to  reside 
in  his  new  mansion  at  Monticello,  near  to  the  spot 
where  he  was  born.  His  practice  at  the  bar  grew 


OUR  FORMER  PRESIDENTS. 

rapidly  and  became  very  lucrative,  and  he  early 
engaged  in  the  political  affairs  of  his  own  State. 
For  years  the  breach  between  England  and  her 
Colonies  had  been  rapidly  widening.  Jefferson 
earnestly  advocated  the  right  of  the  latter  to  local 
self-government,  and  wrote  a  pamphlet  on  the 
subject  which  attracted  much  attention  on  both 
sides  of  the  Atlantic.  By  the  spring  of  1775  the 
Colonies  were  in  revolt.  We  now  find  Jefferson 
in  the  Continental  Congress — the  youngest  mem 
ber  save  one.  His  arrival  had  been  anxiously 
awaited.  He  had  the  reputation  "  of  a  matchless 
pen."  Though  silent  on  the  floor,  in  committee 
"  he  was  prompt,  frank,  explicit,  and  decisive," 
Early  in  June,  1776,  a  committee,  with  Jefferson 
as  chairman,  was  appointed  to  draw  up  a  "  Decla 
ration  of  Independence."  Unanimously  urged  by 
his  associates  to  write  it,  he  did  so,  Franklin  and 
Adams,  only,  making  a  few  verbal  alterations. 
Jefferson  has  been  charged  with  plagiarism  in  the 
composition  of  this  ever-memorable  paper.  Vol 
umes  have  been  written  on  the  subject;  but  those 
who  have  investigated  the  closest,  declare  that 
the  Mecklenburg  Declaration,  from  which  he  was 
charged  with  plagiarism,  was  not  then  in  existence. 
Jefferson  distinctly  denies  having  seen  it.  Prob 
ably,  in  preparing  it,  he  used  many  of  the  popular 
phrases  of  the  time  ;  and  hence  it  was  that  it 
seized  so  quickly  and  so  irresistibly  upon  the 
public  heart.  It  was  the  crystallized  expression 


liliiiiiiilliii 


••MBIT  ',..;  •; 


THOMAS  JEFFERSON. 

of  the  spirit  of  the  age.  Edward  Everett  pro 
nounced  this  Declaration  "  equal  to  anything  ever 
born  on  parchment  or  expressed  in  the  visible 
signs  of  thought."  Bancroft  declares,  "  The  heart 
of  Jefferson  in  writing  it,  and  of  Congress  in 
adopting  it,  beat  for  all  humanity." 

Chosen  a  second  time  to  Congress,  Jefferson 
declined  the  appointment,  in  order  that  he  might 
labor  in  re-organizing  Virginia.  He  therefore 
accepted  a  seat  in  the  Legislature,  where  he 
zealously  applied  himself  to  revising  the  funda 
mental  laws  of  the  State.  The  abolition  of  primo 
geniture  and  the  Church  establishment  was  the 
result  of  his  labors,  and  he  was  justly  proud  of 
it.  No  more  important  advance  could  have  been 
made.  It  was  a  step  from  middle-age  darkness 
into  the  broad  light  of  modern  civilization. 

In  1778,  Jefferson  procured  the  passage  of  a 
law  prohibiting  the  further  importation  of  slaves. 
The  following  year  he  was  elected  Governor, 
succeeding  Patrick  Henry  in  this  honorable  posi 
tion,  and  at  the  close  of  his  official  term  he  again 
sought  the  retirement  of  Monticello.  In  1782, 
shortly  after  the  death  of  his  beloved  wife,  he  was 
summoned  to  act  as  one  of  the  Commissioners  to 
negotiate  peace  with  England.  He  was  not 
required  to  sail,  however ;  but,  taking  a  seat  in 
Congress,  during  the  winter  of  1 783,  he,  who  had 
drawn  up  the  Declaration  of  Independence,  was 
the  first  to  officially  announce  its  final  triumph. 


OUR  FORMER  PRESIDENTS. 

At  the  next  session  of  Congress,  he  secured  the 
adoption  of  our  present  admirable  system  of  coin 
age.  As  chairman  of  a  committee  to  draft  rules 
for  the  government  of  our  Northwest  Territory 
he  endeavored,  but  without  success,  to  secure  the 
prohibition  of  slavery  therefrom  forever.  In  May, 
1 784,  he  was  sent  to  Europe,  to  assist  Adams  and 
Franklin  in  negotiating  treaties  of  commerce  with 
foreign  nations.  Returning  home  in  1789,  he 
received  from  Washington  the  appointment  of 
Secretary  of  State,  which  office  he  resigned  in  1 793. 
He  withdrew,  says  Marshall,  "  at  a  time  when  he 
stood  particularly  high  in  the  esteem  of  his  coun 
trymen."  His  friendship  for  France,  and  his  dis 
like  of  England ;  his  warm  opposition  to  the 
aggrandizement  of  the  central  power  of  the  Gov 
ernment,  and  his  earnest  advocacy  of  every  mea 
sure  tending  to  enlarge  popular  freedom,  had  won 
for  him  a  large  following,  and  he  now  stood  the 
acknowledged  leader  of  the  great  and  growing 
Anti-federal  party. 

Washington  declining  a  third  term,  Adams,  as 
we  have  already  seen,  succeeded  him,  Jefferson 
becoming  Vice-President.  At  the  next  election, 
Jefferson  and  Burr,  the  Republican  candidates, 
stood  highest  on  the  list.  By  the  election  law  of 
that  period,  he  who  had  the  greatest  number  of 
votes  was  to  be  President,  while  the  Vice-Presi 
dency  fell  to  the  next  highest  candidate.  Jeffer 
son  and  Burr  having  an  equal  number  of  votes, 


THOMAS  JEFFERSON.  »  T  „ 

it  remained  for  the  House  of  Representatives  to 
decide  which  should  be  President.  After  a  long 
and  heated  canvass,  Jefferson  was  chosen  on  the 
thirty-sixth  ballot.  He  was  inaugurated,  on  the 
4th  of  March,  1801,  at  Washington,  whither  the 
Capitol  had  been  removed  a  few  months  pre 
viously.  In  1804,  he  was  re-elected  by  an  over 
whelming  majority.  At  the  close  of  his  second 
term,  he  retired  once  more  to  the  quiet  of  Monti- 
cello. 

The  most  important  public  measure  of  Jeffer 
son's  Administration,  to  the  success  of  which  he 
directed  his  strongest  endeavors,  was  the  pur 
chase  from  France,  for  the  insignificant  sum  of 
$15,000,000,  of  the  immense  Territory  of  Louisi 
ana.  It  was  during  his  Administration,  too,  that 
the  conspiracy  of  Burr  was  discovered,  and 
thwarted  by  the  prompt  and  decisive  action  of  the 
President.  Burr's  scheme  was  a  mad  one — to 
break  up  the  Union,  and  erect  a  new  empire,  with 
Mexico  as  its  seat.  Jefferson  is  regarded  as  hav 
ing  initiated  the  custom  of  removing  incumbents 
from  office  on  political  grounds  alone. 

From  the  retirement  into  which  he  withdrew  at 
the  end  of  his  second  term,  Jefferson  never 
emerged.  His  time  was  actively  employed  in 
the  management  of  his  property  and  in  his  exten 
sive  correspondence.  In  establishing  a  Univer 
sity  at  Charlottesville,  Jefferson  took  a  deep  in 
terest,  devoting  to  it  much  of  his  time  and  means. 


OUR  FORMER  PRESIDENTS. 

He  was  proud  of  his  work,  and  directed  that  the 
words  "  Father  of  the  University  of  Virginia " 
should  be  inscribed  upon  his  tomb.  He  died, 
shortly  after  mid-day,  on  the  Fourth  of  July, 
1826,  a  few  hours  before  his  venerable  friend  and 
compatriot,  Adams. 

Jefferson  was  the  very  embodiment  of  the 
democracy  he  sought  to  make  the  distinctive  feat 
ure  of  his  party.  All  titles  were  distasteful  to 
him,  even  the  prefix  Mr.  His  garb  and  manners 
were  such  that  the  humblest  farmer  was  at  home 
in  his  society.  He  declared  that  in  view  of  the 
existence  of  slavery  he  "trembled  for  his  coun 
try  when  he  remembered  that  God  is  just."  He 
was  of  splendid  physique,  being  six  feet  two  and 
a  half  inches  in  height,  but  well  built  and  sinewy. 
His  hair  was  of  a  reddish  brown,  his  countenance 
ruddy,  his  eyes  light  hazel.  Both  he  and  his  wife 
were  wealthy,  but  they  spent  freely  and  died  in 
solvent,  leaving  but  one  daughter. 

His  moral  character  was  of  the  highest  order. 
Profanity  he  could  not  endure,  either  in  himself 
or  others.  He  never  touched  cards,  or  strong 
drink  in  any  form-.  He  was  one  of  the  most 
generous  of  men,  lavishly  hospitable,  and  in 
everything  a  thorough  gentleman.  Gifted  with 
an  intellect  far  above  the  average,  he  had  added 
to  it  a  surprising  culture,  which  ranked  him 
among  our  most  accomplished  scholars.  To 
his  extended  learning,  to  his  ardent  love  of  lib- 


JAMES  MADISON. 

erty,  and  to  his  broad  and  tolerant  views,  is  due 
much,  very  much,  of  whatever  is  admirable  in  our 
institutions.  In  them  we  discern  everywhere 
traces  of  his  master  spirit. 


JAMES  MADISON. 

WHEN  Mr.  Jefferson  retired  from  the 
Presidency,  the  country  was  almost  on 
the  verge  of  war  with  Great  Britain. 
Disputes  had  arisen  in  regard  to  certain  restric 
tions  laid  by  England  upon  our  commerce.  A 
hot  discussion  also  came  up  about  the  right 
claimed  and  exercised  by  the  commanders  of 
English  war-vessels,  of  searching  American  ships 
and  of  taking  from  them  such  seamen  as  they 
might  choose  to  consider  natives  of  Great  Britain. 
Many  and  terrible  wrongs  had  been  perpetrated 
in  the  exercise  of  this  alleged  ri^ht.  Hundreds 

O  c3 

of  American  citizens  had  been  ruthlessly  forced 
into  the  British  service. 

It  was  when  the  public  mind  was  agitated  by 
such  outrages,  that  James  Madison,  the  fourth 
President  of  the  United  States,  was  inaugurated. 
When  he  took  his  seat,  on  the  4th  of  March, 
1809,  he  lacked  but  a  few  days  of  being  fifty-eight 
years  of  age,  having  been  born  on  the  I5th  of 
March,  1751.  His  father  was  Colonel  James 
Madison,  his  mother  Nellie  Conway.  He  gradu- 


4!  6  OUR  FORMER  PRESIDENTS. 

ated  at  Princeton  College,  New  Jersey,  in  1771, 
after  which  he  studied  law. 

In  his  twenty-sixth  year  he  had  been  a  member 
of  the  Convention  which  framed  the  Constitution 
of  Virginia ;  in  1780  had  been  elected  to  the 
Continental  Congress,  in  which  he  at  once  took  a 
commanding  position  ;  had  subsequently  entered 
the  Virginia  Legislature,  where  he  co-operated 
with  his  friend  and  neighbor,  Jefferson,  in  the  ab 
rogation  of  entail  and  primogeniture,  and  in  the 
establishment  of  religious  freedom  ;  had  drawn 
up  the  call  in  answer  to  which  the  Convention  to 
Draught  a  Constitution  for  the  United  States  met 
at  Philadelphia  in  1787,  and  had  been  one  of  the 
most  active  members  of  that  memorable  assem 
blage  in  reconciling  the  discordant  elements  of 

£>  o 

which  it  was  composed.  He  had  also  labored 
earnestly  to  secure  the  adoption  of  the  new  Con 
stitution  by  his  native  State ;  had  afterward  en 
tered  Congress ;  and  when  Jefferson  became 
President,  in  March,  1801,  had  been  by  him  ap 
pointed  Secretary  of  State,  a  post  he  had  declined 
when  it  was  vacated  by  Jefferson  in  December, 
1 793.  In  this  important  post  for  eight  years,  he 
won  the  highest  esteem  and  confidence  of  the 
nation.  Having  been  nominated  by  the  Repub 
licans,  he  was  in  1808  elected  to  the  Presidency, 
receiving  one  hundred  and  twenty-two  electoral 
votes,  while  Charles  C.  Pinckney,  the  Federal  can 
didate,  received  but  forty-seven. 


JAMES  MADISON.  ^  j 

In  1794,  he  married  Mrs.  Dorothy  Todd,  a 
young  widow  lady,  whose  bright  intelligence  and 
fascinating  manners  were  to  gain  her  celebrity  as 
one  of  the  most  remarkable  women  who  ever 
presided  over  the  domestic  arrangements  of  the 
Presidential  Mansion. 

Of  a  weak  and  delicate  constitution,  and  with 
the  habits  of  a  student,  Mr.  Madison  would  have 
preferred  peace  to  war.  But  even  he  lost  patience 
at  the  insults  heaped  upon  the  young  Republic  by 
it  ancient  mother ;  and  when,  at  length,  on  the 
1 8th  of  June,  1812,  Congress  declared  war  against 
Great  Britain,  he  gave  the  declaration  his  official 
sanction,  and  took  active  steps  to  enforce  it. 
Though  disasters  in  the  early  part  of  the  war 
greatly  strengthened  the  Federal  party,  who  were 
bitterly  opposed  to  hostilities,  the  ensuing  Presi 
dential  canvass  resulted  in  the  re-election  of  Mr. 
Madison  by  a  large  majority,  his  competitor,  De 
Witt  Clinton,  receiving  eighty-nine  electoral  votes 
to  one  hundred  and  twenty-eight  for  Madison. 
On  the  1 2th  of  August,  1814,  a  British  army  took 
Washington,  the  President  himself  narrowly  esca 
ping  capture.  The  Presidential  Mansion,  the  Cap 
itol,  and  all  the  public  buildings  were  wantonly 
burned.  The  1 4th  of  December  following,  a  treaty 
of  peace  was  signed  at  Ghent,  in  which,  however, 
England  did  not  relinquish  her  claim  to  the  right 
of  search.  But  as  she  has  not  since  attempted  to 
exercise  it,  the  question  may  be  regarded  as  hav 
ing  been  finally  settled  by  the  contest. 


41  8  OUR  FORMER  PRESIDENTS. 

On  the  4th  of  March,  1817,  Madison's  second 
term  having  expired,  he  withdrew  to  private  life 
at  his  paternal  home  of  Montpelier,  Orange  County, 
Va.  During  his  administration,  two  new  States 
had  been  added  to  the  Union,  making  the  total 
number  at  this  period  nineteen.  The  first  to 
claim  admittance  was  Louisiana,  in  1812.  It  was 
formed  out  of  the  Southern  portion  of  the  vast 
Territory,  purchased,  during  the  Presidency  of 
Jefferson,  from  France.  Indiana — the  second 
State — was  admitted  in  1816. 

After  his  retirement  from  office,  Mr.  -Madison 
passed  nearly  a  score  of  quiet  years  at  Montpe 
lier.  With  Jefferson,  who  was  a  not  very  distant 
neighbor,  he  co-operated  in  placing  the  Charlottes- 
ville  University  upon  a  substantial  foundation.  In 
1829,  he  left  his  privacy  to  take  part  in  the  Con 
vention  which  met  at  Richmond  to  revise  the 
Constitution  of  the  State.  His  death  took  place 
on  the  28th  of  June,  1836,  in  the  eighty-fifth  year 
of  his  age. 


JAMES   MONROE. 

MADISON'S  successor  in  the  Presidential 
chair  was  James  Monroe,  whose  Admin 
istration   has   been  called  "  the  Era  of 
Good  Feeling,"  from  the  temporary  subsidence  at 
that  time  of  party  strife.     He  was  a  son  of  Sperice 
Monroe,  a  planter.     He  was  born  on  his  father's 


JA  MRS  MONR  OE.  *  j  g 

plantation  in  Westmoreland  County,  Va.,  on  the 
28th  of  April,  1758.  At  the  age  of  sixteen  he 
entered  William  and  Mary  College;  but  when, 
two  years  later,  the  Declaration  of  Independence 
called  the  Colonies  to  arms,  the  young  collegian, 
dropping  his  books,  girded  on  his  sword,  and  en- 
tered  the  service  of  his  country.  Commissioned 
a  lieutenant,  he  took  part  in  the  battles  of  Harlem 
Heights  and  White  Plains.  In  the  attack  on 
Trenton  he  was  wounded  in  the  shoulder,  and  for 
his  bravery  promoted  to  a  captaincy.  Subse 
quently  he  was  attached  to  the  staff  of  Lord  Ster 
ling  with  the  rank  of  major,  and  fought  by  the 
side  of  Lafayette,  when  that  officer  was  wounded 
at  the  battle  of  Brandywine,  and  also  participated 
in  the  battles  of  Germantown  and  Monmouth. 
He  was  afterward  given  a  colonel's  commission, 
but,  being  unable  to  recruit  a  regiment,  began  the 
study  of  law  in  the  office  of  Jefferson,  then  Gover 
nor  of  Virginia. 

When  only  about  twenty-three  years  old,  he 
was  elected  to  the  Virginia  Legislature.  The  next 
year  he  was  sent  to  Congress.  On  the  expiration 
of  his  term,  having  meanwhile  married,  in  New 
York,  Miss  Kortright,  a  young  lady  of  great 
intelligence  and  rare  personal  attractions,  he  re 
turned  to  Fredericksburg,  and  commenced  prac 
tice  as  a  lawyer.  He  espoused  the  cause  of  the 
Anti-Federal  or  Republican  party,  being  thor 
oughly  democratic  in  his  ideas,  as  was  his  eminent 


420 


OUR  FORMER  PRESIDENTS. 


preceptor,  Jefferson.  In  i  789,  he  was  elected  to 
the  United  States  Senate.  In  1 794,  he  was  ap 
pointed  minister-plenipotentiary  to  France,  but 
recalled  from  his  mission  two  years  later  because 
of  his  'outspoken  sympathies  with  the  republicans 
of  that  country. 

Shortly  after  his  return,  Monroe  was  elected 
Governor  of  Virginia,  which  post  he  held  for  three 
years  (1799-1802).  On  the  expiration  of  his 
official  term,  he  was  sent  to  co-operate  with  Ed 
ward  Livingston,  then  resident  Minister  at  Paris, 
in  negotiating  the  treaty  by  which  the  Territory  of 
Louisiana  was  secured  to  the  United  States.  In 
1811,  he  was  again  elected  Governor  of  Virginia, 
but  presently  resigned  to  become  Madison's  Sec 
retary  of  State. 

During  the  period  following  the  capture  of 
Washington,  September,  i8i4-March,  1815,  he 
acted  as  Secretary  of  War,  and  did  much  to  restore 
the  nation's  power  and  credit.  He  continued 
Secretary  of  State  until  March,  1817,  when  he 
became  President.  He  was  chosen  by  the  Dem 
ocratic  party,  till  then  known  as  the  Republican. 
He  received  one  hundred  and  eighty-three  elec 
toral  votes,  his  opponent,  Rufus  King,  receiving 
but  thirty-four  votes.  The  violence  of  party  spirit 
greatly  abated  during  his  first  term,  and  he  was 
re-elected  in  1821,  with  but  one  dissenting  vote 
out  of  the  two  hundred  and  thirty-two  cast  by  the 
electoral  college.  On  the  4th  of  March,  1825,  he 


•  JAMES  MONROE. 

retired  to  the  quiet  and  seclusion  of  his  estate  at 
Oak  Hill,  in  Loudon  County,  Virginia. 

During  Monroe's  Administration,  the  bound 
aries  of  the  United  States  were  considerably 
enlarged  by  the  purchase  of  Florida  from  Spain. 
Five  new  States  were  also  admitted  into  the 
Union:  Mississippi,  in  1817;  Illinois,  in  1818; 
Alabama,  in  1819;  Maine,  in  1820;  and  Missouri, 
in  1821. 

The  discussion  in  Congress  over  the  admission 
of  Missouri  showed  the  existence  of  a  new  dis 
turbing  element  in  our  national  politics.  It  was 
the  question  of  the  further  extension  of  slavery  ; 
not  so  much  in  regard  to  its  moral  aspects  as  to 
its  bearing  on  the  question  of  the  balance  of  polit 
ical  power.  For  a  brief  period  two  parties,  one 
in  favor  of  and  the  other  against  admitting  any 
more  Slave  States,  filled  Congress  and  the  country 
with  angry  discussion.  This  was  quieted  for  the 
time  by  what  is  known  as  "  the  Missouri  Compro 
mise,"  which  restricted  slavery  to  the  territory 
lying  south  of  the  southern  boundary  of  Missouri. 

The  somewhat  celebrated  "  Monroe  Doctrine  " 
is  regarded  as  one  of  the  most  important  results 
of  Monroe's  Administration.  It  was  enunciated 
in  his  message  to  Congress  on  the  2d  of  Decem 
ber,  1823,  and  arose  out  of  his  sympathy  for  the 
new  Republics  then  recently  set  up  in  South 
America.  In  substance  it  was,  that  the  United 
States  would  never  entangle  themselves  with  the 


422  OUR  FORMER  PRESIDENTS. 

quarrels  of  Europe,  nor  allow  Europe  to  interfere 
with  the  affairs  of  this  continent. 

In  1830,  the  venerable  ex-President  went  to 
reside  with  his  son-in-law,  Samuel  L.  Gouverneur, 
in  New  York,  where  he  died  in  the  seventy-fourth 
year  of  his  age,  on  the  4th  of  July,  1831,  being  the 
third  of  our  five  Revolutionary  Presidents  to  pass 
from  earth  on  the  anniversary  of  that  memorable 
day,  which  had  contributed  so  largely  to  the 
shaping  of  their  destinies. 


JOHN   QUINCY   ADAMS, 

THE  son  of  Jolm  Adams,  our  second  Presi 
dent,  and  himself  the  sixth  chief  executive 
of  the  Union,  was  born  at  Quincy,  Mass., 
on  the  nth  of  July,  1767.  He  enjoyed  rare 
opportunities  for  culture  from  his  mother,  who 
was  a  lady  of  very  superior  talents.  While  yet  a 
mere  boy,  he  twice  accompanied  his  father  to 
Europe,  and  at  the  age  of  fourteen  was  appointed 
private  secretary  to  Francis  Dana,  then  Minister 
to  Russia.  Graduating  from  Harvard  in  1788,  he 
studied  law  under  Theophilus  Parsons,  and  com 
menced  practice  in  Boston  in  1791.  In  1794,  he 
was  appointed  by  Washington  Minister  to  Holland. 
In  July,  1797,  he  married  Louisa,  daughter  of 
Joshua  Johnson,  then  American  Consul  at  London. 
In  1797,  his  father,  who  was  then  President,  gave 
him  the  mission  to  Berlin,  being  urged  to  this 


JOHN  Q UINC Y AJ)AMS. 

recognition  of  his  own  son  by  Washington,  who 
pronounced  the  younger  Adams  "  the  most  valu 
able  public  character  we  have  abroad." 

On  the  accession  of  Jefferson  to  the  Presidency, 
Mr.  Adams  was  recalled  from  Berlin.  Soon  after 
his  return,  however,  he  was  elected  to  the  United 
States  Senate,  where  he  speedily  won  a  command 
ing  position,  ardently  supporting  Jefferson's  mea 
sures  of  resistance  against  the  arrogance  and 
insolence  of  England  in  her  encroachments  upon 
our  commerce  and  in  her  impressment  of  our 
seamen.  The  Legislature  of  Massachusetts  having 
censured  him  for  his  course,  Adams  resigned  his 
seat;  but,  in  1809,  was  selected  by  Madison  to 
represent  the  United  States  at  St.  Petersburg. 
On  the  24th  of  December,  1814,  he,  in  conjunction 
with  Clay  and  Gallatin,  concluded  the  Treaty  of 
Ghent,  which  closed  "  the  Second  War  of  Inde 
pendence."  In  1817,  he  was  recalled  to  act  as 
Secretary  of  State  for  President  Monroe. 

At  the  election  for  Monroe's  successor,  in  1824, 
party  spirit  ran  high.  The  contest  was  an  excit 
ing  one.  Of  the  two  hundred  and  sixty  electoral 
votes,  Andrew  Jackson  received  99,  John  Quincy 
Adams  84,  Wm.  H.  Crawford  41,  and  Henry 
Clay  37.  As  there  was  no  choice  by  the  people, 
the  election  devolved  upon  the  House  of  Repre 
sentatives.  Here  Mr.  Clay  gave  the  vote  of 
Kentucky  to  Adairr,  and  otherwise  promoted  his 
cause,  so  that  he  received  the  votes  of  thirteen 
States,  and  was  elected. 


424  OUR  FORMER  PRESIDENTS. 

The  Administration  of  the  younger  Adams  has 
been  characterized  as  the  purest  and  most 
economical  on  record.  Yet,  during  his  entire 
term,  he  was  the  object  of  the  most  rancorous  parti 
san  assaults.  He  had  appointed  Clay  as  his  Sec 
retary  of  State,  whereat  the  Jackson  men  accused 
them  both  of  "  bargaining  and  corruption,"  and  in 
all  ways  disparaged  and  condemned  their  work. 
In  his  official  intercourse,  it  was  said  Adams  often 
displayed  "  a  formal  coldness  which  froze  like  an 
iceberg."  This  coldness  of  manner,  along  with 
his  advocacy  of  a  high  protective  tariff  and  the 
policy  of  internal  improvements,  and  his  known 
hostility  to  slavery,  made  him  many  bitter  enemies, 
especially  in  the  South,  and  at  the  close  of  his 
first  term  he  was  probably  the  most  unpopular 
man  who  could  have  aspired  to  the  Presidency ; 
and  yet,  in  his  contest  with  Jackson  at  that  time, 
Adams  received  eighty-three  electoral  votes,  Jack 
son  being  chosen  by  one  hundred  and  seventy- 
eight. 

On  the  4th  of  March,  1829,  General  Jackson 
having  been  elected  President,  Mr.  Adams  re 
tired  to  private  life;  but,  in  1831,  was  elected  to 
the  House  of  Representatives  of  the  United 
States,  where  he  took  his  seat,  pledged,  as  he  said, 
to  no  party.  He  at  once  became  the  leader  of 
that  little  band,  so  insignificant  in  numbers,  but 
powerful  in  determination  and  courage,  who,  re 
garding  slavery  as  both  a  moral  and  a  political 


JOHN  Q  UINC  Y  ADAMS.  ^  2  ? 

evil,  began,  in  Congress,  to  advocate  its  abolition. 
By  his  continual  presentation  of  petitions  against 
slavery,  he  gradually  yet  irresistibly  led  the  pub 
lic  mind  to  familiarize  itself  with  the  idea  of  its 
final  extinction.  To  the  fiery  onslaughts  of  the 
Southern  members  he  opposed  a  cold  and  unim- 
passioned  front. 

In  1842,  to  show  his  consistency  in  upholding 
the  right  of  petition,  he  presented  to  Congress 
the  petition  of  some  thirty  or  forty  over-zealous 
anti-slavery  persons  for  the  dissolution  of  the 
Union.  This  brought  upon  the  venerable  ex- 
President  a  pe'rfect  tempest  of  indignation.  Reso 
lutions  to  expel  him  were  introduced ;  but,  after 
eleven  days  of  stormy  discussion,  they  were  laid 
on  the  table.  The  intrepidity  displayed  by  "  the 
old  man  eloquent  "  was  beginning  to  tell.  Even 
those  who  most  bitterly  opposed  his  doctrines 
were  learning  to  respect  him.  When,  after  a 
season  of  illness,  he  re-appeared  in  Congress,  in 
February,  1847,  every  member  instinctively  rose 
in  his  seat  to  do  the  old  man  honor.  On  the 
2ist  of  February,  1848,  Mr.  Adams  was  struck 
down  by  paralysis  on  the  floor  of  the  House  of 
Representatives.  He  was  taken,  senseless,  into 
an  ante-room.  Recovering  his  consciousness,  he 

o 

looked  calmly  around,  and  said:  "This  is  the  last 
of  earth :  I  am  content."  These  were  his  last 
words.  In  an  apartment  beneath  the  dome  of  the 
Capitol  he  expired,  on  February  23d,  in  the 
eighty-first  year  of  his  age. 


426 


OUR  FORMER  PRESIDENTS. 


ANDREW  JACKSON, 


SEVENTH  President  of  the  United  States, 
was  born  in  Mecklenburg  County,  North 
Carolina,  on  the  i5th  of  March,  1767.  His 
father,  who  was  a  poor  Irishman,  dying  a  few  days 
before  Andrew's  birth,  he  and  his  two  older 
brothers  were  left  to  the  care  of  his  mother. 
The  boys  had  little  schooling.  Andrew  was  a 
rude,  turbulent  lad,  at  once  vindictive  and  gener 
ous,  full  of  mischief,  but  resolute,  of  indomitable 
courage,  and  wonderfully  self-reliant.  When  but 
thirteen,  fired  by  the  death  of  his  oldest  brother, 
who  had  perished  from  heat  and  exhaustion  at 
the  Battle  of  Stono,  he  shouldered  a  musket  and 
took  part  in  the  War  of  Independence.  He  and 
his  remaining  brother  were  made  prisoners  by 
the  British,  but  were  soon  released  through  the 
exertions  of  their  mother.  It  was  during  this 
captivity  that  Andrew  received  a  wound  from  a 
British  officer  for  refusing  to  black  the  boots  of 
that  dignitary.  Both  the  released  boys  were  soon 
sent  home  with  the  small-pox,  of  which  the  elder 
died,  and  Andrew  barely  escaped  death.  The 
mother  went  next,  dying  of  ship  fever,  contracted 
while  attending  upon  the  patriot  prisoners  at 
Charleston.  Thus  left  an  orphan,  Andrew  worked 
a  short  time  in  a  saddler's  shop.  He  then  tried 
school-teaching,  and  finally  studied  law,  being 


ANDRE  W  JA CKSON. 

admitted  to  practice  when  but  twenty  years  old. 
At  that  time  he  was  very  commanding  in  appear 
ance,  being  six  feet  one  inch  in  height,  and  dis 
tinguished  for  courage  and  activity. 

In  1791,  Jackson  married,  at  Nashville,  where 
he  had  built  up  a  lucrative  practice,  Mrs.  Rachel 
Robards,  the  divorced  wife,  as  both  he  and  the 
lady  herself  supposed,  of  Mr.  Lewis  Robards. 
They  had  lived  together  two  years,  when  it  was 
discovered  that  Mrs.  Robards  was  not  fully  di 
vorced  at  the  time  of  her  second  marriage.  As, 
however,  the  divorce  had  subsequently  been  per 
fected,  the  marriage  ceremony  was  performed 
anew,  in  1794.  In  after  years,  this  unfortunate 
mistake  was  made  the  basis  of  many  calumni 
ous  charges  against  Jackson  by  his  partisan 
enemies. 

Tennessee  having  been  made  a  State  in  1796, 
Jackson  was  successively  its  Representative  and 
Senator  in  Congress,  and  a  Judge  of  its  Supreme 
Court.  Resigning  his  judgeship  in  1804,  he  en 
tered  into  and  carried  on  for  a  number  of  years 
an  extensive  trading  business.  He  was  also 

o 

elected  at  this  period  major-general  in  the  militia. 
In  1806  he  was  severely  wounded  in  a  duel  with 
Charles  Dickenson,  who  had  been  making  dis 

o 

paraging  remarks  against  his  wife,  something 
which  Jackson  could  neither  forget  nor  forgive. 
Dickenson  fell  mortally  wounded,  and,  after  suf 
fering  intense  agony  for  a  short  time,  died.  This 


428  OLR  FORMER  PRESIDENTS. 

sad  affair,  in  which  Jackson  displayed  much  vin- 
dictiveness,  made  him  for  awhile  very  unpopular. 

When,  in  1812,  war  was  declared  against  Eng 
land,  Jackson  promptly  offered  his  services  to  the 
General  Government.  During  the  summer  of 
1813  he  had  another  of  those  personal  rencontres 
into  which  his  fiery  temper  was  continually  lead 
ing  him.  In  an  affray  with  Thomas  H.  Benton,  he 
received  a  pistol-shot  in  the  shoulder  at  the  hands 
of  Benton's  brother,  from  the  effects  of  which  he 
never  fully  recovered;  He  was  still  suffering 
from  the  immediate  consequences  of  this  wound, 
when  tidings  were  received  at  Nashville  of  the 
massacre  at  Fort  Mimms  by  Creek  Indians.  Jack 
son,  regardless  of  his  wounds,  at  once  took  the 
field.  An  energetic  campaign,  in  which,  winning 
victory  after  victory,  he  established  his  reputation 
as  one  of  our  best  military  chieftains,  ended  the 
Creek  War,  and  broke  forever  the  power  of  the 
Indian  races  in  North  America. 

In  May,  1814,  Jackson  was  made  a  major-gen 
eral  in  the  regular  army  and  became  the  acknowl 
edged  military  leader  in  the  Southwest.  New 
Orleans  being  threatened  by  the  British,  he  hast 
ened  to  defend  it.  There,  on  the  8th  of  January, 
1815,  with  less  than  five  thousand  men,  mostly 
untrained  militia,  he  repulsed  the  attack  of  a  well- 
appointed  army  of  nearly  fourteen  thousand  vet 
eran  troops,  under  some  of  the  most  distinguished 
officers  in  the  English  service.  Generals  Paken- 


ANDREW  JACKSON.  439 

ham  and  Gibbs,  of  the  British  forces,  were  killed, 
together  with  seven  hundred  of  their  men,  fourteen 

hundred   more  beincr  wounded  and  five   hundred 
& 

taken  prisoners.  Jackson  lost  but  eight  killed  and 
fourteen  wounded.  Ten  days  later  the  enemy 
withdrew,  leaving  many  of  their  guns  behind 
them.  The  full  glory  of  Jackson's  triumph  at 
New  Orleans  partisan  rancor  subsequently  sought 
to  dim.  But  high  military  authorities,  even  in 
England,  have  sustained  the  popular  judgment 
that  it  was  a  brilliant  victory,  achieved  by  rare 
foresight,  wise  conduct,  and  undoubted  warlike 
genius. 

Jackson's  success  at  New  Orleans  gave  him 
immense  popularity.  He  received  a  vote  of 
thanks  from  Congress,  was  made  Commander-in- 
chief  of  the  southern  division  of  the  army,  and 
even  began  to  be  talked  of  as  a  candidate  for  the 
Presidency.  President  Monroe  offered  him  the 
post  of  Secretary  of  War.  In  the  Seminole  War, 
which  commenced  about  the  close  of  1817,  he 
took  the  field  in  person.  He  was  successful, 
with  but  little  fighting.  His  execution  of  Arbuth- 
not  and  Armbruster,  two  British  subjects,  found 
guilty  by  a  military  court  of  inciting  the  Indians 
to  hostilities,  caused  an  angry  discussion  between 
England  and  the  United  States  which  at  one  time 
threatened  to  end  in  open  rupture.  In  Congress, 
also,  it  excited  a  warm  debate  ;  but  resolutions 
censuring  the  General  were  rejected  by  the 


OUR  FORMER  PRESIDENTS. 

House,  and  came  to  no  conclusion  in  the 
Senate. 

When  Spain  ceded  Florida  to  the  Union,  Jack 
son  was  appointed  Governor  of  the  Territory. 
In  1823  he  was  elected  to  the  United  States  Sen 
ate  by  the  Legislature  of  Tennessee,  which,  at  the 
same  time,  nominated  him  for  the  Presidency. 
This  nomination,  though  ridiculed  on  account  of 
Jackson's  alleged  unfitness  for  the  office,  never 
theless  resulted,  at  the  ensuing  election,  in  his 
receiving  more  votes  than  any  other  single  can 
didate  ;  but  the  choice  devolving  on  the  House 
of  Representatives,  Adams,  as  we  have  seen,  was 
elected.  For  Henry  Clay's  part  in  this  success  of 
Adams,  Jackson  became  his  bitter  enemy,  stigma 
tizing  him  as  the  "  Judas  of  the  West."  In  the 
next  campaign,  however,  Jackson  achieved  a  de 
cided  triumph,  having  a  majority  of  eighty-three 
out  of  two  hundred  and  sixty-one  electoral  votes. 

In  retaliation  for  the  bitter  personal  attacks  he 
had  received  during  the  campaign,  Jackson  com 
menced  a  wholesale  political  proscription  of  his 
partisan  opponents.  Adopting  the  war-cry  of  his 
Secretary  of  State,  Marcy,  of  New  York,  that 
"to  the  victors  belong  the  spoils,"  he  initiated  that 
system,  ever  since  so  prevalent,  of  turning  out  of 
office  every  man  not  on  the  side  of  the  winning 
party.  His  veto  of  the  bill  re-chartering  the 
United  States  Bank,  which  for  a  time  caused  quite 
a  panic  in  commercial  circles,  and  his  determined 


ANDRE  W  JA  CKSON.  *  ^  j 

stand  against  the  "  nullifiers,"  under  the  lead  of 
Calhoun,  who,  with  threats  of  armed  resistance, 
demanded  a  reduction  of  the  tariff,  excited  a  warm 
opposition  to  the  President.  But,  in  spite  of 
every  effort,  the  election  of  1828  brought  him 
again  into  the  Presidential  chair  with  an  over 
whelming  majority,  he  receiving  two  hundred 
and  nineteen  electoral  votes  out  of  two  hundred 
and  eighty-eight,  which  was  then  the  total  number. 

On  the  loth  of  December,  1832,  Jackson  was 
compelled  by  the  conduct  of  South  Carolina  to 
issue  a  proclamation  threatening  to  use  the  army 
in  case  of  resistance  to  the  execution  of  the  tariff 
laws ;  but,  fortunately,  Mr.  Clay  succeeded  in 
bringing  about  a  compromise,  by  which,  the  tariff 
being  modified,  the  South  Carolinians  were  ena 
bled  to  recede  from  their  position  with  becoming 
dignity. 

Jackson's  removal  of  the  deposits,  in  1833, 
caused  an  intense  excitement  throughout  the 
country.  In  Congress,  his  course  was  censured 
by  the  Senate,  but  approved  by  the  House.  A 
panic  existed  for  some  time  in  business  circles ; 
but  before  the  close  of  his  second  term  the  great 
mass  of  the  people  were  content  with  the  Presi 
dent's  course. 

Jackson's  foreign  diplomacy  had  been  very 
successful.  Useful  commercial  treaties  were 
made  with  several  countries  and  renewed  with 
others.  Indemnities  for  spoliations  on  American 


432  OUR  FORMER  PRESIDENTS: 

commerce  were  obtained  from  various  foreign 
countries.  The  national  debt  was  extinguished, 
the  Cherokees  were  removed  from  Georgia  and 

o 

the  Creeks  from  Florida,  while  the  original  num 
ber  of  the  States  was  doubled  by  the  admission 
into  the  Union  of  Arkansas,  in  1836,  and  of 
Michigan,  in  1837.  On  the  other  hand,  the  slavery 
dispute  was  renewed  with  much  bitterness,  and 
the  Seminole  War  re-commenced. 

On  the  4th  of  March,  1837,  Jackson  retired 
from  public  life.  He  returned  to  "  the  Hermit 
age,"  his  country  seat,  where  he  remained  until 
his  death,  on  the  8th  of  June,  1845.  The  imme 
diate  cause  of  his  death  was  dropsy ;  but  through 
the  greater  part  of  his  life  he  had  been  a  sufferer 
from  disease  in  one  form  or  another. 

General  Jackson  has  been  described  as  a  man 
of  unbounded  hospitality.  He  loved  fine  horses 
and  had  a  passion  for  racing  them.  "  His  temper," 
writes  Colonel  Benton,  "  was  placable  as  well,  as 
irascible,  and  his  reconciliations  were  cordial  and 
sincere."  He  abhorred  debt,  public  as  well  as 
private.  His  love  of  country  was  a  master  pas 
sion.  "  He  was  a  thoroughly  honest  man,  as 
straightforward  in  action  as  his  thoughts  were 
unsophisticated."  Of  book-knowledge  he  pos 
sessed  little — scarcely  anything;  but  his  vigorous 
native  intelligence  and  intuitive  judgment  carried 
him  safely  through  where  the  most  profound 
learning  without  them  would  have  failed. 


MARTIN  VAN  J3U-REN,  ,^~ 


MARTIN   VAN   BUREN, 

^  ¥  ^HE  eighth  chief  executive  of  the  Union, 
was  the  son  of  a  thrifty  farmer  in  the  old 

•^    town  of  Kinderhook,  in  Columbia  County, 
New  York,  where  he  was  born  on  the  5th  of 
December,    1782.       Early    evidencing     unusual 
mental   vigor,   a   good   academic    education   was 
given  to  him.     Finishing  this  at  the  age  of  four 
teen,  he  then  began  the  study  of  the  law.     After 
seven  years  of  study  he  was  admitted  to  the  bar, 
and  commenced  to  practice  in  his  native  village. 
His  growing  reputation  and  practice  warranting 
him  in  seeking  a  wider  field,  in  1809  he  removed 
to  Hudson.     In  1812,  he  was  elected  to  the  Sen 
ate   of  New  York ;    and,  in    1815,   having   been 
appointed  Attorney-General  of  the  State,  he  re 
moved  to  Albany.     In    1821,  he  was  elected  to 
the  United  States  Senate,  and  was  also  a  member 
of  the  Convention  to  revise  the   Constitution   of 
New  York.     He  speedily  rose  to  distinction  in 
the  National  Senate,  and,  in   1827,  was  re-elected 
to  that  body,   but    the  year  following    resigned 
his  seat  to  take  the  position  of  Governor  of  New 
York. 

In  1829,  General  Jackson,  whose  election  to 
the  Presidency  was  no  doubt  due  in  a  great  mea 
sure  to  the  shrewd  political  management  of  Van 
Buren,  offered  him  the  post  of  Secretary  of  State. 


434  OUR  FORMER  PRES1DEN7'S. 

In  1831,  circumstances  making  it  necessary  for 
Jackson  to  re-organize  his  Cabinet,  Van  Buren 
resigned  his  Secretaryship,  but  was  immediately 
named  Minister  to  England.  The  Senate,  how 
ever,  greatly  to  the  President's  dissatisfaction, 
refused  to  confirm  the  nomination,  though  Van 
Buren  had  already  reached  London.  This  rejec 
tion  of  his  friend  aroused  all  of  Jackson's  deter 
mined  spirit.  He  not  only  succeeded  in  placing 
Mr.  Van  Buren  in  the  Vice-Presidency  during  his 
own  second  term,  but  he  also  began  to  work  zeal 
ously  to  obtain  Van  Buren's  nomination  as  his 
successor  in  the  Presidency.  He  triumphed,  and 
his  friend  received  the  Democratic  nomination, 
and  was  elected  by  a  handsome  majority,  taking 
his  seat  in  the  Presidential  chair  on  the  4th  of 
March,  1837. 

Shortly  after  Van  Buren's  inauguration,  a  finan 
cial  panic,  ascribed  to  General  Jackson's  desire  to 
make  specie  the  currency  of  the  country,  and  his 
consequent  war  upon  the  banks,  brought  the 
country  to  the  very  verge  of  ruin.  Failures 
came  fast  and  frequent,  and  all  the  great  indus 
tries  of  the  nation  were  paralyzed.  At  the  same 
time,  the  war  in  Florida  against  the  Seminoles  lin 
gered  along,  without  the  slightest  apparent  pros 
pect  of  coming  to  an  end,  entailing  enormous 
expenses  on  the  Government;  while  the  anti- 
slavery  agitation,  growing  steadily  stronger,  ex 
cited  mobs  and  violence,  and  threatened  to  shake 


MAR  TIN  VAN  B  UREN.  ,  ^  r 

the  Republic  from  its  foundations.  Rightly  or 
wrongly,  these  troubles  were  attributed  to  Presi 
dent  Van  Buren  and  his  party,  as  resulting  from 
the  policy  they  had  pursued.  His  popularity 
waned  rapidly,  and  at  the  Presidential  election  in 
1840,  in  which  he  was  a  candidate  for  re-election, 
he  was  overwhelmingly  defeated. 

Retiring  to  Lindenwald,  his  fine  estate  near 
Kinderhook,  Van  Buren,  in  1844,  endeavored  to 
procure  a  re-nomination  for  the  Presidency,  but 
was  unsuccessful,  though  a  majority  of  delegates 
was  pledged  to  support  him.  His  defeat  was  due 
to  the  opposition  of  Southern  members,  based  on 
the  fact  that  he  had  written  a  letter  adverse  to 
the  annexation  of  Texas. 

In  1848,  he  was  brought  forward  by  the  Free-soil 
Democrats.  Though  not  elected,  the  party  which 
had  nominated  him  showed  unexpected  strength, 
nearly  three  hundred  thousand  votes  having  been 
cast  in  his  favor. 

Mr.  Van  Buren  now  retired  from  public  life. 
Fourteen  years  later,  at  the  age  of  eighty,  on  the 
24th  of  July,  1862,  he  died  at  Lindenwald.  He 
was  a  man  of  more  than  ordinary  ability,  of  culti 
vated  manners,  and  genial  disposition.  Though 
shrewd,  he  was  not  a  dishonest  politician.  His 
private  character  was  beyond  reproach.  He  de 
serves  a  conspicuous  position  among  those  who 
have  been  worthy  successors  of  our  immortal 
first  President. 


436 


OUR  FORMER  PRESIDENTS. 


WILLIAM  HENRY  HARRISON. 


WILLIAM  HENRY  HARRISON,  ninth 
President  of  the    United  States,  was 
born  at  Berkeley,  on  the  banks  of  the 
James  River,  in  Virginia,  on  the  Qth  of  February, 
1773.     His  father,  Benjamin  Harrison,  was  one  of 
'the  signers  of  the   Declaration  of  Independence, 
and  for  several  years  Governor  of  Virginia.    Hav 
ing  received  a  good  education  at  Hampden-Sid- 
ney  College,  young  Harrison  began  the  study  of 
medicine;  but  the  barbarities  of  the  savages  on 
our    northwestern    frontier    havino*    excited    his 

G> 

sympathies  in  behalf  of  the  suffering  settlers,  he 
determined  to  enter  the  army,  as  being  a  place 
where  he  could  do  good  service.  Accordingly,  in 
1791,  shortly  after  St.  Clair's  defeat,  he  obtained 
from  President  Washington  a  commission  as  en 
sign  in  the  artillery.  Though  winter  was  coming 
on,  he  at  once  set  out  on  foot  across  the  wilder 
ness  to  Pittsburg,  whence  he  descended  the  Ohio 
to  Fort  Washington,  now  Cincinnati.  He  soon 
became  a  favorite  with  his  superiors,  and  by  his 
bravery  in  battle  speedily  attained  the  rank  of 
captain.  In  1 797,  when  but  twenty-four  years  old, 
having  recently  married,  he  resigned  his  commis 
sion,  to  accept  the  secretaryship  of  the  Northwest 
Territory.  In  1801,  he  was  appointed  Governor 
of  "  the  Indiana  Territory,"  comprising  the  present 


WILLIAM  HENR  Y  HARRISON.  ,  0  7 

States  of  Indiana,  Illinois,  and  Wisconsin.  This 
office  he  filled  satisfactorily  to  both  whites  and 
Indians  for  twelve  years,  during  which  time  he 
negotiated  many  excellent  treaties. 

During  the  summer  of  181 1,  the  Indians  of  the 
Northwest,  under  the  lead  of  the  celebrated  Te- 
cumseh,  and  instigated,  it  is  thought,  by  the  emis 
saries  of  England,  with  whom  we  were  upon  the 
point  of  going  to  war,  broke  out  into  open  hos 
tility.  Collecting  a  considerable  force  of  militia 
and  volunteers,  Harrison  took  the  field.  On  the 
7th  of  November,  he  encountered  and  defeated 
Tecumseh  on  the  banks  of  the  Tippecanoe  River. 
This  was  one  of  the  most  hotly  contested  battles 
ever  fought  between  the  Indians  and  the  whites. 
Its  victorious  results  added  greatly  to  Harrison's 
already  high  reputation;  and  in  1812,  after  Hull's 
ignominious  surrender  of  Detroit,  he  was  ap 
pointed  commander-in-chief  of  the  Army  of  the 
Northwest.  Invested  with  almost  absolute  power, 
he  displayed  an  energy,  sagacity,  and  courage 
which  justified  the  confidence  reposed  in  him. 
By  almost  superhuman  exertions,  he  managed  to 
collect  an  army.  Perry,  on  the  loth  of  Septem 
ber,  1813,  having  defeated  the  British  fleet  on 
Lake  Erie,  Harrison,  who  had  been  waiting  the 
course  of  events,  now  hastened  to  take  the  field. 
Crossing  into  Canada,  he  repossessed  Detroit, 
and,  pushing  on  in  pursuit  of  the  flying  enemy, 
finally  brought  them  to  a  stand  on  the  banks  of 


438  OUR  FORMER  PRESIDENTS. 

the  Thames.  Here,  after  a  brief  but  sanguinary 
contest,  the  British  and  their  savage  allies  were 
defeated  with  heavy  loss.  Tecumseh,  the  leading 
spirit  of  the  Indians,  was  left  dead  on  the  field. 
Harrison's  triumph  was  complete  and  decisive. 

Shortly  after  this  victory,  which  gave  peace  to 
the  Northwest,  Harrison,  having  had  some  diffi 
culty  with  the  Secretary  of  War,  threw  up  his 
commission,  but  was  appointed  by  the  President 
to  negotiate  a  treaty  with  the  Indians.  In  1816, 
he  was  elected  to  the  lower  house  of  Congress, 
where  he  gained  considerable  reputation,  both  as 
an  active  working  member  and  as  an  eloquent 
and  effective  speaker.  In  1824,  he  was  sent  from 
Ohio  to  the  United  States  Senate.  In  1828,  he 
was  appointed  by  John  Quincy  Adams  Minister 
to  the  Republic  of  Colombia ;  but  President  Jack 
son,  who  bore  him  no  good- will,  the  following 
year  recalled  him.  On  his  return  home,  he  retired 
to  his  farm  at  North  Bend,  on  the  Ohio  River, 
and  was  presently  elected  clerk  of  the  Hamilton 
County  Court.  In  1836,  he  was  one  of  the  four 
candidates  who  ran  against  Van  Buren  for  the 

O 

Presidency.  Jackson's  favorite,  as  we  have  seen, 
came  out  ahead  in  this  race.  But,  though  Harri 
son  was  not  elected,  there  was  such  evidence  of 
his  popularity  as  to  warrant  the  Whigs  in  uniting 
upon  him  as  their  candidate  in  the  campaign  of  1 840. 
That  campaign  was  a  memorable  one.  It  was, 
perhaps,  the  most  exciting,  yet,  at  the  same  time, 


WILLIAM  IIENR  Y  HARRISON. 

one  of  the  freest  from  extreme  partisan  bitterness, 
of  any  Presidential  canvass  ever  known.  As 
"  the  hero  of  Tippecanoe  "  and  "  the  log-cabin 
candidate,"  which  latter  phrase  was  first  used  in 
contempt,  Harrison  swept  everything  before  him, 
securing  two  hundred  and  thirty-four  out  of  the 
two  hundred  and  ninety-four  electoral  votes  cast, 
and  this,  too,  in  spite  of  all  the  efforts  of  Jackson 
to  prevent  his  success.  His  journey  to  be  inau 
gurated  was  one  continued  ovation.  His  inaugu 
ration,  which  took  place  on  the  4th  of  March, 
1841,  was  witnessed  by  a  vast  concourse  of  peo 
ple  from  all  parts  of  the  Union.  His  address,  by 
the  moderation  of  its  tone,  and  by  its  plain,  prac 
tical,  common-sense  views,  confirmed  his  immense 
popularity.  Selecting  for  his  Cabinet  some  of 
the  most  eminent  public  men  of  the  country,  he 
began  his  Administration  with  the  brightest  pros 
pects.  But,  in  the  midst  of  these  pleasing  antici 
pations,  he  was  suddenly  attacked  by  a  fit  of 
sickness,  which,  in  a  few  days  terminated  in  his 
death,  on  the  4th  of  April,  just  one  month  after 
his  inauguration.  His  last  words,  spoken  in  the 
delirium  of  fever,  were  characteristic  of  the  con 
scientiousness  with  which  he  had  accepted  the 
responsibilities  of  the  Presidential  office.  "  Sir," 
he  said,  as  if,  conscious  of  his  approaching  end, 
he  were  addressing  his  successor,  "  I  wish  you  to 
understand  the  principles  of  the  Government.  I 
wish  them  carried  out.  I  ask  nothing  more." 


440  OUR  FORMER  PRESIDENTS. 

The  sudden  and  unexpected  death  of  President 
Harrison  threw  the  whole  country  into  mourning. 
Much  had  been  hoped  from  him,  as  one  who  had 
the  best  interests  of  every  portion  of  the  Union 
at  heart.  There  was  a  noble  simplicity  in  his 
character  which  had  won  all  hearts.  Without 
being  brilliant,  his  was  an  intellect  of  solid,  sub 
stantial  worth.  He  was  a  frank,  guileless-hearted 
man,  of  incorruptible  integrity,  and  stands  forth 
among  our  Presidents,  brief  as  was  his  official 
term,  as  a  noble  representative  of  the  plain,  prac 
tical,  honest  yeomanry  of  the  land.  "  Not  one 
single  spot,"  says  Abbott,  "  can  be  found  to  sully 
the  brightness  of  his  fame ;  and  through  all  the 
ages,  Americans  will  pronounce  with  love  and 
reverence  the  name  of  William  Henry  Harrison." 


JOHN  TYLER. 

ON   the  death  of  General   Harrison,  April 
4th,  1841,  for  the  first  time  in  our  history 
the  administration  of  the  Government  de 
volved  on   the  Vice-President.     The  gentleman 
thus  elevated  to  the  Presidency  was  John  Tyler, 
the   son  of  a  wealthy  landholder  of  Virginia,  at 
one   time    Governor    of   that    State.       Born    in 
Charles   City  County,  March    29th,    1790,   young 
Tyler,  at  the  age   of  seventeen,  graduated  from 
William  and  Mary  College  with  the  reputation  of 


JOHN  TYLER. 

having  delivered  the  best  commencement  oration 
ever  heard  by  the  faculty.  When  only  nineteen 
he  began  to  practice  law,  rising  to  eminence  in 
his  profession  with  surprising  rapidity.  Two 
years  later  he  was  elected  to  the  Legislature. 
After  serving  five  successive  terms  in  the  Legis 
lature,  he  was,  in  1816,  in  1817,  and  again  in 
1819,  elected  to  Congress.  Compelled  by  ill- 
health  to  resign  his  seat  in  Congress,  he  was,  in 
1825,  chosen  Governor  of  the  State.  In  1827,  he 
was  elected  to  the  United  States  Senate  over  the 
celebrated  John  Randolph,  of  Roanoke. 

During  the  whole  of  his  Congressional  career, 
Mr.  Tyler  was  an  earnest  advocate  of  the  strict 
construction  doctrines  of  the  then  Democratic 
party,  opposing  the  United  States  Bank,  a  protec 
tive  tariff,  internal  improvements  by  the  General 
Government,  and,  in  short,  all  measures  tending 
to  the  centralization  of  power.  He  was  also  an 
ardent  opponent  of  any  restrictions  upon  slavery, 
and  avowed  his  sympathies  with  the  nullification 
theories  of  Calhoun.  On  this  last  subject  he 
finally  came  into  the  opposition  against  Jackson. 
In  the  session  of  1833-^34,  he  voted  for  Clay's 
resolutions  censuring  Jackson  for  his  removal  of 
the  deposits.  In  1836,  when  the  Virginia  Legis 
lature  instructed  its  representatives  in  Congress 
to  vote  for  the  rescinding  of  these  resolutions, 
Mr.  Tyler,  who  had  early  committed  himself  to 
the  right  of  instruction,  could  not  conscientiously 


44  2  OUR  DORMER  PRESIDENTS. 

comply  with  the  request  of  the  Legislature,  nor 
hold  his  seat  in  disregard  of  its  mandate,  and  ac 
cordingly  resigned.  In  1838,  he  was  again  sent 
to  the  Legislature,  and,  in  1839,  we  find  him  a 
delegate  to  the  Whig  National  Convention, 
which,  at  Harrisburg,  nominated  Harrison  and 
himself  as  candidates  for  President  and  Vice- 
President.  Of  the  campaign  which  followed,  and 
of  the  subsequent  death  of  Harrison,  we  have 
already  given  an  account. 

On  receiving  tidings  of  the  President's  death, 
Mr.  Tyler  hastened  to  Washington,  and,  on  the 
6th  of  April,  was  inaugurated,  and  he  retained 
all  the  Cabinet  officers  Harrison  had  appointed. 
Three  days  later,  he  issued  an  inaugural  address, 
which  was  well  received,  both  by  the  public  and 
by  his  partisan  friends,  who,  knowing  his  antece 
dents,  had  been  somewhat  dubious  as  to  what 
policy  he  would  pursue.  But  this  was  only  the 
calm  before  the  storm.  Tyler's  veto  of  the  bill 
for  a  "  fiscal  bank  of  the  United  States,"  led  to  a 
complete  rupture  with  the  party  by  which  he  had 
been  elected,  who  charged  him  wrth  treachery  to 
his  principles.  Attempting  conciliation,  he  only 
displeased  the  Democrats,  who  had  at  first  shown 
a  disposition  to  stand  by  him,  without  regaining 
the  favor  of  the  Whigs.  In  consequence  of  this 
course  of  action,  Tyler's  Cabinet  all  resigned, 
and  in  their  places  several  Democrats  were  ap 
pointed. 


JOHN  TYLER. 

During  his  Administration  several  very  impor 
tant  measures  were  adopted.  Among  them  the 
act  establishing  a  uniform  system  of  bankruptcy, 
passed  in  1841,  the  tariff  law  of  1842,  and  the 
scheme  for  the  annexation  of  Texas,  which,  by  the 
vigorous  efforts  of  the  President,  was  brought  to 
a  successful  issue  by  the  passage  of  joint  resolu 
tions  in  Congress,  on  the  ist  of  March,  1845,  just 
three  days  before  the  close  of  his  term.  The 
formal  act  of  annexation,  however,  was  not  passed 
until  a  later  period.  One  new  State — Florida — 
was  also  admitted  into  the  Union  under  Mr. 
Tyler's  Administration,  in  1845. 

After  his  retirement  from  the  Presidency,  on 
the  4th  of  March,  1845,  Mr.  Tyler  remained  in 
private  life  at  his  beautiful  home  of  Sherwood 
Forest,  in  Charles  City  County,  till,  in  1861,  he 
appeared  as  a  member  of  the  Peace  Convention, 
composed  of  delegates  from  the  "  Border  States," 
which  met  at  Washington  to  endeavor  to  arrange 
terms  of  compromise  between  the  seceded  States 
and  the  General  Government.  Of  this  Conven 
tion,  which  accomplished  "nothing,  he  was  presi 
dent. 

Subsequently,  Mr.  Tyler  renounced  his  alle 
giance  to  the  United  States,  and  was  chosen  a 
member  of  the  Confederate  Congress.  While 
acting  in  this  capacity  he  was  taken  sick  at  Rich 
mond,  where  he  died  after  a  brief  illness,  on  the 
1 7th  of  January,  1862. 


444  °UR  FORMER  PRESIDENTS. 


JAMES  KNOX  POLK. 

MECKLENBURG  County,  North  Caro 
lina,  has  the  distinction  of  being  the 
birthplace  of  two  Presidents  of  the 
United  States — Andrew  Jackson  and  James  Knox 
Polk — the  latter  of  whom  was  born  there  on  the 
2d  of  November,  1/95.  Like  his  friend  and 
neighbor,  General  Jackson,  Mr.  Polk  was  of 
Scotch-Irish  descent.  It  was  his  great-uncle,  Col 
onel  Thomas  Polk,  who,  on  the  iQth  of  May,  i  775, 
read  from  the  steps  of  the  court-house,  at  Char 
lotte,  that  famous  "Mecklenburg  Declaration  of 
Independence,"  to  which  reference  has  been  made 
in  our  sketch  of  Jefferson.  James  at  a  very  early 
age  manifested  decided  literary  tastes.  After  a 
vain  attempt  to  induce  him  to  become  a  store 
keeper,  his  father  finally  consented  to  his  enter 
ing  the  University  of  North  Carolina,  at  Chapel 
Hill,  from  which,  in  his  twenty-third  year,  he  grad 
uated  with  the  highest  honors.  Studying  law  at 
Nashville,  Tennessee,  where  he  renewed  a  former 
acquaintance  with  General  Jackson,  he  was  ad 
mitted  to  the  bar,  and  commenced  practice  at 
Columbia. 

In  1823,  he  was  elected  to  the  Legislature  of 
Tennessee,  and  during  the  following  year  was 
married  to  Miss  Sarah  Childress,  a  beautiful  and 
accomplished  young  lady,  of  refined  manners  and 


JAMES  KNOX  POLK.  ^  ? 

rare  social  gifts.  In  the  fall  of  1825,  he  was 
elected  to  Congress,  where  he  remained  the  next 

o> 

fourteen  years,  during  five  sessions  occupying  the 
responsible  and  honorable  position  of  Speaker  of 
the  House,  the  duties  of  which  he  performed  with 
a  dignity  and  dispassionateness  which  won  for  him 
the  warmest  encomiums  from  all  parties.  In  1839, 
he  was  chosen  Governor  of  Tennessee.  Again  a 
candidate  in  1841,  and  also  in  1843,  he  was  both 
times  defeated, — a  result  due  to  one  of  those 
periodical  revolutions  in  politics  which  seem  in 
separable  from  republican  forms  of  government, 
rather  than  to  Mr.  Folk's  lack  of  personal  popu 
larity. 

As  the  avowed  friend  of  the  annexation  of 
Texas,  Mr.  Polk,  in  1844,  was  nominated  by  the 
Democrats  for  the  Presidency.  Though  he  had 
for  his  opponent  no  less  a  person  than  the  great 
and  popular  orator  and  statesman,  Henry  Clay,  he 
received  one  hundred  and  seventy  out  of  two  hun 
dred  and  seventy-five  votes  in  the  electoral  col 
lege.  He  was  inaugurated  on  the  4th  of  March, 
1845.  Three  days  previously,  his  predecessor, 
John  Tyler,  had  signed  the  joint  resolutions  of 
Congress  favoring  the  annexation  of  Texas  to  the 
United  States.  Consequently,  at  the  very  begin 
ning  of  his  Administration,  Mr.  Polk  found  the 
country  involved  in  disputes  with  Mexico,  which, 
on  the  formal  annexation  of  Texas,  in  December, 
1845.  threatened  to  result  in  hostilities  between 


446 


OUR  FORMER  PRESIDENTS. 


the  two  countries.  General  Zachary  Taylor  was 
sent  with  a  small  army  to  occupy  the  territory 
stretching  from  the  Neuces  to  the  Rio  Grande, 
which  latter  stream  Texas  claimed  as  her  western 
boundary.  Mexico,  on  the  other  hand,  declaring 
that  Texas  had  never  extended  further  west  than 
the  Neuces,  dispatched  a  force  to  watch  Taylor. 
A  slight  collision,  in  April,  1846,  was  followed,  a 
few  days  later,  by  the  battles  of  Palo  Alto  and 
Resaca  de  la  Palma,  in  which  General  Taylor  was 
victorious.  When  the  tidings  of  these  battles 
reached  Washington,  the  President,  on  May  nth, 
sent  a  special  message  to  Congress,  declaring 
"  that  war  existed  by  the  act  of  Mexico,"  and  ask 
ing  for  men  and  money  to  carry  it  on.  Congress 
promptly  voted  ten  million  dollars,  and  authorized 
the  President  to  call  out  fifty  thousand  volun 
teers.  Hostilities  were  prosecuted  vigorously.  An 
American  army,  under  General  Scott,  finally  fought 
its  way  to  the  capture  of  the  City  of  Mexico.  On 
the  2d  of  February,  1848,  the  treaty  of  Guada- 
loupe  Hidalgo  was  signed,  and  ratified  by  the 
Senate  on  the  loth  of  March  following,  by  which 
New  Mexico  and  Upper  California,  comprising  a 
territory  of  more  than  half  a  million  square  miles, 
were  added  to  the  United  States.  In  return,  the 
United  States  agreed  to  pay  Mexico  fifteen  mil 
lion  of  dollars,  and  to  assume  the  debts  due  by 
Mexico  to  citizens  of  the  United  States,  amount 
ing  to  three  and  a  half  millions  more. 


JAMES  KNOX  POLK.  ^ 

Besides  Texas,  two  other  States  were  admitted 
into  the  Union  during  Mr.  Folk's  Administration. 
These  were  Iowa  and  Wisconsin — the  former  in 
1846  and  the  latter  in  1848. 

When  the  war  with  Mexico  first  broke  out, 
negotiations  were  pending  between  England  and 
the  United  States,  in  regard  to  Oregon,  which  we 
had  long  deemed  a  portion  of  our  own  territory. 
"  Fifty-four  forty  [54°  40']  or  fight !"  had  been  one 
of  the  Democratic  battle-cries  during  the  canvass 
which  resulted  in  Mr.  Folk's  election,  and  he,  in 
his  inaugural,  had  maintained  that  our  title  to 
Oregon  was  unquestionable.  England,  however, 
still  urged  her  claim  to  the  whole  country.  After 
considerable  negotiation,  the  President  finally,  as 
an  amicable  compromise,  offered  the  boundary  of 
the  parallel  of  49°,  giving  Vancouver's  Island  to 
Great  Britain.  His  offer  was  accepted,  and  war 
perhaps  avoided.  Another  important  measure  of 
Mr.  Folk's  Administration  was  a  modification  of 
the  tariff,  in  1846,  by  which  its  former  protective 
features  were  much  lessened. 

On  his  nomination,  in  1 844,  Mr.  Polk  had  pledged 
himself  to  the  one-term  principle.  Consequently 
he  was  not  a  candidate  for  re-election  in  1848. 
Having  witnessed  the  inauguration  of  his  suc 
cessor,  General  Taylor,  he  returned  to  his  home 
near  Nashville.  "  He  was  then,"  says  Abbott, 
but  fifty-four  years  of  age.  He  had  ever  been 
strictly  temperate  in  his  habits,  and  his  health  was 


OUR  FORMER  PRESIDENTS. 

good.  With  an  ample  fortune,  a  choice  library,  a 
cultivated  mind,  and  domestic  ties  of  the  dearest 
nature,  it  seemed  as  though  long  years  of  tran 
quillity  and  happiness  were  before  him;'  But  it 
was  not  so  to  be.  On  his  way  home  he  felt  pre 
monitory  symptoms  of  cholera,  and  when  he 
reached  there  his  system  was  much  weakened. 
Though  at  first  able  to  work  a  little  in  superin 
tending  the  fitting  up  of  his  grounds,  he  was  soon 
compelled  to  take  to  his  bed.  He  never  rose 
from  it  again.  Though  finally  the  disease  was 
checked,  he  had  not  strength  left  to  bring  on  the 
necessary  reaction.  "  He  died  without  a  struggle, 
simply  ceasing  to  breathe,  as  when  deep  and  quiet 
sleep  falls  upon  a  weary  man,"  on  the  I5th  of 
June,  1849,  a  little  more  than  three  months  after 
his  retirement  from  the  Presidency.  His  remains 
lie  in  the  spacious  lawn  of  his  former  home,  where 
his  widow  still  lives  (1884). 


ZACHARY  TAYLOR, 

TWELFTH  President  of  the  United  States, 
was  born  in  Orange  County,  Virginia,  No 
vember  24th,  1784.  His  father,  Colonel  Rich 
ard  Taylor,  was  a   noted    Revolutionary  officer. 
His  mother,  as  is  usually  the   case  with  the  moth 
ers  of  men  who  have   risen  to   distinction,  was  a 
woman  of  great  force  of  character.      Whilst  he 


THE  FAMOUS  EAST  ROOM  OF  THE  WHITE  HOUSE. 


THE  WHITE  HOUSE— HOME  OF  TH.E  PRESIDENTS. 


ZA  CHAR  Y  TA  YL  OR.  *  -  j 

was  yet  an  infant,  his  parents  removed  to  the  then 
wilderness  near  the  present  city  of  Louisville. 
Here  in  the  depths  of  the  forest  swarming  with 
hostile  savages,  young  Taylor  found  few  educa 
tional  advantages,  though  the  training  he  received 
was  no  doubt  one  to  develop  those  military  qual 
ities  he  subsequently  displayed.  He  grew  up  a 
rugged,  brave,  self-reliant  youth,  with  more  of  a 
certain  frank,  almost  blunt,  off-handedness,  than 
exterior  polish. 

In  1808,  he  received  a  lieutenant's  commission 
in  the  army,  and  in  1810  married  Margaret  Smith. 
His  military  career  fairly  opened  in  1812,  when 
he  was  sent  to  the  defense  of  our  western  border. 
While  in  command  of  Fort  Harrison,  on  the 
Wabash,  with  a  garrison  of  but  fifty-two  men,  he 
was  suddenly  attacked  by  a  band  of  Indians,  who 
succeeded  in  setting  fire  to  the  fort.  But  the 
young  captain  with  his  handful  of  men  extinguished 
the  flames,  and  forced  the  enemy  to  retreat.  For 
this  gallant  exploit,  he  received  a  brevet  major's 
commission. 

Nothing  remarkable  occurred  in  his  life  for 
many  years  subsequent,  until,  in  1837,  we  find 
him  a  colonel  in  Florida,  operating  against  the 
Seminoles.  On  Christmas  Day  of  that  year  he 
won  the  battle  of  Okechobee,  one  of  the  most 
fiercely  contested  actions  in  the  annals  of  Indian 
warfare.  The  Seminoles  never  rallied  again  in 
formidable  numbers.  For  his  signal  services  in 


452  OUR  FORMER  PRESIDENTS. 

this  affair  Taylor  was  made  a  brigadier,  and  ap 
pointed  Commander-in-chief.  This  post  he  retained 
till  1840,  when,  having  purchased  an  estate  near 
Baton  Rouge,  in  Louisiana,  he  was,  at  his  own 
request,  placed  in  the  command  of  the  Department 
of  the  Southwest. 

While  still  holding  this  command  in  the  spring 
of  1845,  Congress  "having  passed  joint  resolutions 
for  the  annexation  of  Texas,  General  Taylor  was 
sent  with  four  thousand  troops  to  Corpus  Christi, 
on  the  west  bank  of  the  Neuces,  and  in  territory 
claimed  by  both  Mexico  and  Texas.  It  has  been 
said  that  it  was  the  secret  object  of  our  Govern 
ment  to  provoke  a  conflict  with  Mexico,  yet  so 
that  the  responsibility  of  it  should  appear  to  rest 
upon  General  Taylor.  If  such  was  the  object, 
the  scheme  signally  failed.  Taylor  made  no  move 
without  explicit  orders.  It  was  by  the  President's 
positive  command  that,  on  the  8th  of  March,  1846, 
the  wary  old  General  began  his  march  into  the 
disputed  district  lying  between  the  Neuces  and 
the  Rio  Grande.  Reaching  the  latter  stream  on 
the  28th,  he  built  Fort  Brown  immediately  oppo 
site  the  Mexican  town  of  Matamoras.  On  the 
1 2th  of  March  the  Mexican  commander  peremp 
torily  ordered  Taylor  to  retire  beyond  the  Neuces. 
A  refusal  to  do  this,  he  said,  would  be  regarded 
as  a  declaration  of  war.  General  Taylor  replied 
that  his  instructions  would  not  permit  him  to 
retire,  and  that  if  the  Mexicans  saw  fit  to  com- 


ZA  CHAR  Y  TA  YL  OR. 

mence  hostilities  he  would  not  shrink  from  the 
conflict.  Six  thousand  Mexicans  at  once  crossed 
the  Rio  Grande.  With  less  than  three  thousand 
troops,  Taylor,  on  the  8th  of  April,  attacked  and 
defeated  them  at  Palo  Alto.  Rallying-  in  a  strong 
position  at  Resaca  de  la  Palma,  the  Mexicans 
were  again  attacked,  and  after  a  stubborn  fight 
driven  back  across  the  river  with  great  loss.  These 
victories  were  hailed  with  the  wildest  enthusiasm 
throughout  the  country,  and  Taylor  was  promoted 
to  a  major-generalship. 

Moving  rapidly  forward  to  Monterey,  he  took 
that  strongly  fortified  city,  after  a  desperate  fight 
of  three  days.  Making  it  his  headquarters,  the 
victor  was  preparing  for  an  important  move,  when 
General  Scott,  who  was  about  to  lead  an  expedi 
tion  against  Vera  Cruz,  took  away  the  best  part 
of  his  troops,  leaving  him  with  only  five  thousand 
men,  mostly  raw  volunteers.  Hearing  of  this, 
Santa  Anna,  undoubtedly  the  ablest  of  the  Mexican 
generals,  with  twenty  thousand  picked  men, 
pushed  rapidly  down  the  Rio  Grande  with  the 
design  of  overpowering  Taylor's  little  army.  The 
latter,  on  the  2ist  of  February,  1847,  took  position 
at  Buena  Vista  and  awaited  the  approach  of  his 
antagonist,  who  made  his  appearance  the  following 
day,  and  at  once  began  a  fierce  attack.  Never 
was  battle  fought  with  more  desperate  courage 
or  greater  skill.  Three  times  during  the  day 
victory  seemed  with  the  Mexicans  ;  but  finally  the 


454  °UR  FORMER 

stubborn  valor  of  Taylor's  little  band  won  the 
field. 

The  tidings  of  this  brilliant  victory  excited  the 
greatest  enthusiasm  and  gained  an  imperishable 
renown  for  the  triumphant  General.  On  his  re 
turn  home  in  November,  "  Old  Rough  and  Ready," 
as  his  soldiers  familiarly  called  him,  was  greeted 
everywhere  by  the  warmest  demonstrations  of 
popular  applause.  Even  before  this  he  had  been 
nominated  at  public  meetings  for  the  Presidency ; 
and  now  the  Whigs,  casting  about  for  a  popular 
candidate,  made  him  their  party  nominee.  Not 
withstanding  the  defection  from  their  ranks  of 
Henry  Wilson  and  others,  who  were  opposed  to 
Taylor  as  being  a  slave-holder,  he  was  elected  by 
a  respectable  majority,  receiving  one  hundred  and 
sixty-three  electoral  votes.  His  inauguration 
took  place  on  Monday,  March  5th,  1849. 

Though  he  selected  an  excellent  Cabinet,  the 
old  soldier  found  himself  in  a  trying  position.  A 
vehement  struggle  had  commenced  in  Congress 
about  the  organization  of  the  new  Territories,  the 
admission  of  California,  and  the  settlement  of  the 
boundary  between  Texas  and  New  Mexico,  all 
these  questions  being  connected  with  the  great 
and  absorbing  one  of  the  extension  or  non-ex- 

o 

tension  of  slavery.  Taylor,  in  his  message  to 
Congress,  recommended  the  admission  of  Cali 
fornia  as  a  free  State,  and  that  the  remaining 
Territories  should  be  allowed  to  form  State  Con- 


MILLARD  FILLMORE.  *r* 

stitutions  to  suit  themselves.  Nothing  could  have 
been  more  distasteful  to  the  extremists  of  the 
South,  many  of  whom  made  open  threats  of  seces 
sion  in  case  of  the  adoption  of  the  President's 
suggestions.  To  adjust  the  difficulty,  Mr.  Clay, 
in  the  Senate,  introduced  his  "  compromise  mea 
sures/'  which  were  still  under  debate,  when,  on 
the  4th  of  July,  1850,  General  Taylor  was  seized 
with  bilious  fever,  of  which  he  died  on  the  Qth  at 
the  Presidential  Mansion.  His  last  words  were  : 
"  I  have  tried  to  do  my  duty." 


MILLARD   FILLMORE. 

ON  the  death  of  General  Taylor,  his  suc 
cessor,  according  to  the  Constitution,  was 
the  Vice-President.  The  gentleman  then 
filling  that  position  was  Millard  Fillmore,  an  emi 
nent  lawyer  of  New  York.  He  was  compara 
tively  a  young  man,  having  been  born  on  the  yth 
of  January,  1800,  at  Summer  Hill,  Cayuga  County, 
New  York.  His  father  being  poor,  his  means  of 
education  had  been  limited.  Apprenticed  at  the 
age  of  fourteen  to  a  clothier,  he  found  time  during 
his  evenings  to  gratify  an  insatiable  thirst  for 
knowledge  by  reading.  His  studious  habits,  fine 
personal  appearance,  and  gentlemanly  bearing 
having  attracted  the  attention  of  a  lawyer  in  the 
neighborhood,  that  gentleman  offered  to  receive 


456  OUR  FORMER  PRESIDENTS. 

him  in  his  office  and  to  assist  him  pecuniarily 
until  he  should  be  admitted  to  the  bar.  This  offer 
young  Fillmore,  then  in  his  nineteenth  year,  thank 
fully  accepted.  With  this  help,  and  by  teaching 
during  the  winters,  he  was  enabled  to  prosecute 
his  studies  to  a  successful  issue,  and  in  1823  was 
admitted  to  the  bar,  opening  an  office  in  the  vil 
lage  of  Aurora,  New  York.  In  1826,  he  married 
Miss  Abigail  Powers,  a  lady  of  eminent  worth. 

Mr.  Fillmore  steadily  rose  in  his  profession. 
In  1829,  he  was  elected  by  the  Whigs  to  the  State 
Legislature,  and  soon  afterward  removed  to  Buf 
falo.  In  1832,  he  was  chosen  a  member  of  Con 
gress,  and  again  in  1837,  but  declined  running  a 
third  time.  He  now  had  a  wide  reputation,  and 
in  the  year  1847  was  elected  State  Comptroller 
and  removed  to  Albany.  The  following  year,  he 
was  placed  in  nomination  as  Vice-President  on  the 
ticket  with  General  Taylor.  When,  on  the  5th  of 
March,  1849,  Taylor  took  the  Presidential  chair, 
Mr.  Fillmore,  by  virtue  of  his  office,  became 
President  of  the  United  States  Senate.  Here,  the 
first  presiding  officer  to  take  so  firm  a  step,  he 
announced  his  determination,  in  spite  of  all  prece 
dents  to  the  contrary,  to  promptly  call  Senators  to 
order  for  any  offensive  words  they  might  utter  in 
debate. 

When,  after  the  unexpected  death  of  General 
Taylor,  on  July  9th,  1850,  the  office  of  chief  ex 
ecutive  devolved  upon  Mr.  Fillmore,  he  found 


M1LLARD  F1LLMORE.  **„ 

his  position  no  easy  or  pleasant  one.  His  political 
opponents  had  a  majority  in  both  houses  of  Con 
gress.  The  controversy  on  the  slavery  question 
had  embittered  public  feeling,  and  it  required  a 
skillful  pilot  to  guide  the  ship  of  state  safely  through 
the  perils  by  which  she  was  surrounded.  The  com 
promise  measures  of  Mr.  Clay,  to  which  we  have 
already  referred  in  our  sketch  of  General  Taylor, 
were  finally  passed,  and  received  the  approving 
signature  of  Mr.  Fillmore.  One  of  these  meas 
ures  was  the  admission  of  California  as  a  free 
State  ;  another  was  the  abolition  of  slavery  in  the 
District  of  Columbia.  These  were  thought  to  be 
concessions  to  the  cause  of  freedom ;  while,  on 
the  other  hand,  to  satisfy  the  pro-slavery  agitators, 
a  bill  was  passed  to  give  the  owners  of  slaves 
power  to  recapture  fugitive  slaves  in  any  part  of 
the  free  States  and  carry  them  back  without  a  jury 
trial.  But,  though  enacted  in  the  hope  of  allay 
ing  sectional  animosity,  these  measures  brought 
about  only  a  temporary  calm,  while  they  aggra 
vated  the  violence  of  extremists  both  North  and 
South. 

The  compromise  measures  and  the  fitting  out 
of  the  famous  Japan  expedition  were  the  principal 
features  of  Mr.  Fillmore's  otherwise  uneventful 
Administration.  On  the  4th  of  March,  1853,  he 
retired  from  office,  and  immediately  afterward 
took  a  long  tour  through  the  Southern  States, 
where  he  met  with  a  cordial  reception. 


OUR  FORMER  PRESIDENTS. 

In  1855,  Mr.  Fillmore  visited  Europe.  He  was 
everywhere  received  with  those  marks  of  atten 
tion  which,  according-  to  European  ideas,  are  due 
to  those  who  have  occupied  the  most  distinguished 
positions.  On  his  return  home,  in  1856,  he  was 
nominated  for  the  Presidency  by  the  so-called 
"Know-nothing,"  or  "American"  party;  but  being 
very  decidedly  defeated,  he  retired  to  private  life. 
He  died  at  Buffalo,  New  York,  on  the  8th  of 
March,  1874. 


FRANKLIN   PIERCE, 

FOURTEENTH  President  of  the  United 
States,  was  born  at  Hillsborough,  N.  H., 
November  23d,  1804.  His  father,  General 
Benjamin  Pierce,  was  a  soldier  of  the  Revolution, 
and  was  a  man  of  considerable  local  repute,  hav 
ing  also  served  as  Governor  of  New  Hampshire. 
Graduating  from  Bowdoin  College  in  1824,  Mr. 
Pierce  studied  law  with  the  celebrated  Levi 
Woodbury,  and  commenced  practice  in  his  native 
town  in  1837.  He  married  in  1834.  He  early 
entered  the  political  field  and,  in  1833,  after  hav 
ing  previously  served  several  terms  in  the  State 
Legislature,  was  elected  to  Congress.  Here  he 
showed  himself  an  earnest  State-rights  Dem9crat, 
and  was  regarded  as  a  fair  working  member.  In 
1837,  when  but  thirty-three  years  of  age,  he  was 


FRANKLIN  PIERCE. 

elected  to  the  National  Senate  and,  during  the 
following  year,  removed  to  Concord,  where  he  at 
once  took  rank  among  the  leading  lawyers  of  the 
State. 

Though  Mr.  Pierce  had  declined  the  office  of 
Attorney-General  of  the  United  States,  offered 
to  him  by  President  Polk,  he,  nevertheless,  when 
hostilities  were  declared  against  Mexico,  accepted 
a  brigadier-generalship  in  the  army,  successfully 
marching  with  twenty-four  hundred  men  from  the 
sea-coast  to  Puebla,  where  he  reinforced  General 
Scott.  The  latter,  on  the  arrival  of  Pierce,  imme 
diately  prepared  to  make  his  long-contemplated 
attack  upon  the  City  of  Mexico.  At  the  battle  of 
Contreras,  on  the  i9th  of  August,  1847,  where  he 
led  an  assaulting  column  four  thousand  strong, 
General  Pierce  showed  himself  to  be  a  brave  and 
energetic  soldier.  Early  in  the  fight  his  leg  was 
broken  by  his  horse  falling  upon  him,  yet  he  kept 
his  saddle  during  the  entire  conflict,  which  did  not 
cease  till  eleven  o'clock  at  night.  The  next  day 
also,  he  took  part  in  the  still  more  desperate  fight 
at  Churubusco,  where,  overcome  by  pain  and 
exhaustion,  he  fainted  on  the  field.  At  Molino 
Del  Rey,  where  the  hottest  battle  of  the  war  was 
fought,  he  narrowly  escaped  death  from  a  shell 
which  bursted  beneath  his  horse. 

The  American  army  triumphantly  entered  the 
City  of  Mexico  on  the  i3th  of  September,  1847. 
General  Pierce  remained  there  until  the  following 


460  OUR  FORMER  PRESIDENTS. 

December,  when  he  returned  home  and  resumed 
the  practice  of  his  profession.  In  the  Democratic 
Convention  which  met  at  Baltimore,  June  ist, 
1852,  Cass,  Buchanan,  and  Douglas  were  the 
prominent  candidates.  After  thirty-five  indecisive 
ballots  Franklin  Pierce  was  proposed,  and  on  the 
forty-ninth  ballot  he  was  nominated  for  the  Presi 
dency.  He  was  elected  by  an  overwhelming 
majority,  and  was  inaugurated  Chief  Magistrate 
on  the  4th  of  March,  1853,  receiving  two  hundred 
and  fifty-four  electoral  votes,  while  his  opponent, 
General  Winfield  Scott,  received  but  forty-two. 

Though  both  the  great  parties  of  the  country 
had  adopted  platforms  favoring  the  recent  com 
promise  measures  of  Clay,  and  deprecating  any 
renewal  of  the  agitation  of  the  slavery  question, 
General  Pierce's  Administration,  by  reason  of  the 
bringing  up  of  that  very  question,  was  one  of  the 
most  stormy  in  our  history.  Douglas's  bill  for  the 
organization  of  Kansas  and  Nebraska,  by  which 
the  Missouri  Compromise  Act  of  1 8  20  was  repealed 
allowing  slavery  to  enter  where  it  had  been  for 
ever  excluded,  and  which,  having  the  support  of 
the  President,  became  a  law  on  the  last  day  of 
May,  1853,  excited  the  most  intense  indignation 
in  the  free  States,  and  greatly  increased  the 
strength  of  the  anti-slavery  power.  In  Kansas  a 
bitter  contest,  almost  attaining  the  proportions 
of  civil  war,  began  between  the  partisans  of 
the  South  and  the  North.  This  contest  was 


FRANKLIN  PIERCE. 


461 


still  raging  when  Mr.  Pierce's  term  drew  to  its 
close.  Other  events  of  his  Administration  were  the 
bombardment  of  Greytown,  in  Central  America, 
under  orders  from  our  Government ;  efforts 
under  Government  direction  for  the  acquisition 
of  Cuba ;  and  the  use  of  the  President's  official 
influence  and  patronage  against  the  Anti-Slavery 
settlers  of  Kansas. 

His  friends  sought  to  obtain  his  nomination  for 
a  second  term,  but  did  not  succeed.  On  the  4th  of 
March,  1857,  therefore,  he  retired  to  his  home  at 
Concord.  That  home,  already  bereaved  by  the 
loss  of  three  promising  boys — his  only  children, 
— was  now  to  have  a  still  greater  loss, — that  of 
the  wife  and  afflicted  mother,  who,  grief-stricken 
at  the  sudden  death,  by  a  railroad  accident,  of  her 
last  boy,  sunk  under  consumption,  leaving  Mr. 
Pierce  alone  in  the  world — wifeless  as  well  as 
childless. 

The  sorrowing  ex-President  soon  after  took  a 
trip  to  Madeira,  and  made  a  protracted  tour  in 
Europe,  returning  home  in  1860.  During  the 
Civil  War  he  delivered  in  Concord  a  speech,  still 
known  as  the  "  Mausoleum  of  Hearts  Speech," 
in  which  he  is  regarded  as  having  expressed  a 
decided  sympathy  for  the  Confederates.  He  died 
at  Concord  on  the  8th  of  October,  1869,  having 
lost  much  of  his  hold  on  the  respect  of  his  fellow- 
citizens,  both  North  and  South,  by  his  lack  of 
decision  for  either. 


462  OUR  FORMER  PRESIDENTS. 

JAMES   BUCHANAN, 

FIFTEENTH  President  of  the  United  States, 
was  born  in  Franklin  County,  Pa.,  April 
22d,  1791.  His  father,  a  native  of  the 
North  of  Ireland,  who  had  come  eight  years  before 
to  America,  with  no  capital  but  his  strong  arms 
and  energetic  spirit,  was  yet  able  to  give  the 
bright  and  studious  boy  a  good  collegiate  educa 
tion  at  Dickinson  College,  Carlisle,  Pa.,  where  he 
graduated  in  1809.  He  then  began  the  study  of 
law  at  Lancaster,  and,  after  a  three  years'  course, 
was  admitted  to  practice  in  1812.  He  rose  rap 
idly  in  his  profession,  the  business  of  which  in 
creased  with  his  reputation,  so  that,  at  the  age  of 
forty,  he  was  enabled  to  retire  with  an  ample 
fortune. 

Mr.  Buchanan  early  entered  into  politics. 
When  but  twenty-three  years  old,  he  was  elected 
to  the  Legislature  of  Pennsylvania.  Though  an 
avowed  Federalist,  he  not  only  spoke  in  favor  of 
a  vigorous  prosecution  of  the  War  of  1812,  but 
likewise  marched  as  a  private  soldier  to  the  de 
fense  of  Baltimore.  In  1820,  he  was  elected  to 
the  lower  House  of  Congress,  where  he  speedily 
attained  eminence  as-  a  finished  and  energetic 
speaker.  His  political  views  are  shown  in  the 
following  extract  from  one  of  his  speeches  in 
Congress :  "  If  I  know  myself,  I  am  a  politician 


JAMES  BUCHANAN.  ,  5- 

neither  of  the  West  nor  the  East,  of  the  North  nor 
of  the  South.  I  therefore  shall  forever  avoid  any 
expressions  the  direct  tendency  of  which  must  be 
to  create  sectional  jealousies,  and  at  length  dis 
union — that  worst  of  all  political  calamities." 
That  he  sincerely  endeavored  in  his  future  career 
to  act  in  accordance  with  the  principles  here 
enunciated  no  candid  mind  can  doubt,  however 
much  he  may  be  regarded  to  have  failed  in  doing 
so,  especially  during  the  eventful  last  months  of 
his  Administration. 

In  1831,  at  the  close  of  his  fifth  term,  Mr.  Bu 
chanan,  having  declined  a  re-election  to  Congress, 
was  sent  as  Minister  Plenipotentiary  to  St.  Peters 
burg,  where  he  concluded  the  first  commercial 
treaty  between  the  United  States  and  Russia. 
On  his  return  home  in  1833,  ne  was  elected  to 
the  National  Senate.  Here  he  became  one  of 
the  leading  spirits  among  the  supporters  of  Presi 
dent  Jackson,  and  also  supported  the  Administra 
tion  of  Martin  Van  Buren.  He  was  re-elected 
to  the  Senate,  and  his  last  act  as  a  Senator  was 
to  report  favorably  on  the  admission  of  Texas, 
he  being  the  only  member  of  the  Committee  on 
Foreign  Relations  to  do  so. 

On  the  election  of  Polk  to  the  Presidency,  in 
1845,  Mr.  Buchanan  was  selected  to  fill  the  im 
portant  position  of  Secretary  of  State.  He 
strongly  opposed  the  "  Wilmot  Proviso,"  and  all 
other  provisions  for  the  restriction  of  slavery. 


464  OUR  FORMER  PRESIDENTS. 

At  the  close  of  Folk's  term,  he  withdrew  to  private 
life,  but  was  subsequently  sent  by  President 
Pierce  as  our  Minister  to  England.  It  was  while 
acting  in  this  capacity  that  he  united  with  Mason 
and  Soule  in  the  once  celebrated  "  Ostend  Mani 
festo,"  in  which  strong  ground  was  taken  in  favor 
of  the  annexation  of  Cuba  to  the  United  States, 
by  purchase,  if  possible,  but  if  necessary,  by  force. 

Returning  home  in  1856,  he  was  nominated  as 
the  Democratic  candidate  for  the  Presidency, 
and,  after  a  stormy  campaign,  elected,  receiving 
one  hundred  and  seventy-four  out  of  three  hun 
dred  and  three  electoral  votes.  His  opponents 
were  John  C.  Fremont,  Republican,  and  Millard 
Fillmore,  American.  He  was  inaugurated  on  the 
4th  of  March,  1857.  With  the  exception  of  a  slight 
difficulty  with  the  Mormons  in  Utah,  and  of  the 
admission  into  the  Union  of  Minnesota  in  1858, 
and  of  Oregon  in  1859,  the  chief  interest  of  Mr. 
Buchanan's  Administration  centered  around  the 
slavery  controversy. 

At  the  time  of  his  inauguration,  it  is  true,  the 
country  looked  confidently  forward  to  a  period  of 
political  quiet.  But,  unhappily,  the  Kansas  diffi 
culty  had  not  been  settled.  The  Free-State  party 
in  that  territory  refused  obedience  to  the  laws 
passed  by  the  local  Legislature,  on  the  grounds 
that  that  Legislature  had  been  elected  by  fraudu 
lent  means.  They  even  chose  a  rival  Legislature, 
which,  however,  the  President  refused  to  recog- 


JAMES  BUCHANAN. 

nize.  Meanwhile  the  so-called  regular  Legislature, 
which  Congress  had  sanctioned,  passed  a  bill  for 
the  election  of  delegates  by  the  people  to  frame  a 
State  Constitution  for  Kansas.  An  election  was 
accordingly  held;  the  Convention  met,  and  after  a 
stormy  and  protracted  session,  completed  its  work. 
The  Lecompton  Constitution,  as  it  was  called,  when 
laid  before  Congress,  met  with  strong  opposition 
from  the  Republicans,  on  the  ground  that  it  had 
been  fraudulently  concocted.  The  President,  how 
ever,  gave  it  all  his  influence,  believing  that  it 
would  bring  peace  to  the  country,  while  not  pre 
venting  Kansas  from  being  a  free  State,  should  its 
people  so  desire;  and  finally,  after  a  struggle  of 
extraordinary  violence  and  duration,  it  received 
the  sanction  of  Congress. 

But  quiet  was  not  restored.  In  the  North,  the 
feeling  against  the  President  and  his  party  be 
came  intense.  The  election  in  1860  resulted  in 
the  triumph  of  Abraham  Lincoln,  the  Republican 
candidate  for  the  Presidency.  The  period  between 
Lincoln's  election  and  his  inauguration  was  one 
of  peculiar  trial  to  President  Buchanan.  An  at 
tempt  to  incite  a  slave  insurrection,  made  at  Har 
per's  Ferry,  in  1859,  by  John  Brown,  of  Kansas,  for 
which  he  was  hanged  by  the  authorities  of  Virginia, 
had  created  a  profound  sensation  in  the  South, 
where  it  was  regarded  by  many  as  indicative  of 
the  fixed  purpose  of  the  North  to  destroy  slavery 
at  all  hazards.  The  election  of  Lincoln  following 


OUR  FORMER   PRESIDENTS. 

so  soon  after  this  event,  added  strength  to  their 
apprehensions.  As  soon  as  the  result  of  the 
canvass  became  known,  South  Carolina  seceded 
from  the  Union.  Mr.  Buchanan,  apparently  re 
garding  the  fears  and  complaints  of  the  South 
as  not  without  some  just  grounds,  seems  to  have 
endeavored  to  bring  about  a  peaceful  solution  of 
the  difficulties  before  him  by  attempts  at  concilia 
tion.  But  however  good  his  intentions  may  have 
been,  his  policy,  which  has  been  characterized  as 
weak,  vacillating,  and  cowardly,  so  signally  failed, 
that  when,  on  the  4th  of  March,  1861,  he  retired 
from  the  Presidency,  he  handed  over  to  his  suc 
cessor  an  almost  hopelessly  divided  Union,  from 
which  seven  States  had  already  seceded. 

Mr.  Buchanan  also  used  his  influence  for  the 
purchase  of  Cuba  as  a  means  of  extending  slave 
territory.  He  permitted  the  seizure  of  Southern 
forts  and  arsenals,  and  the  removal  of  muskets 
from  Northern  to  Southern  armories  as  the  seces 
sion  movements  matured,  and  in  his  message  of 
December,  1860,  he  directly  cast  upon  the  North 
the  'blame  of  the  disrupted  Union. 

Remaining  in  Washington  long  enough  to  wit 
ness  the  installation  of  Mr.  Lincoln,  Mr.  Buch 
anan  withdrew  to  the  privacy  of  Wheatland,  his 
country  home,  near  Lancaster,  in  Pennsylvania. 
Here  he  spent  the  remainder  of  his  days,  taking 
no  prominent  part  in  public  affairs.  In  1866,  he 
published  a  volume  entitled,  Mr.  Buchanans 


ABRAHAM  LINCOLN. 

Administration,  in  which  he  explained  and  de 
fended  the  policy  he  had  pursued  while  in  the 
Presidential  office.  He  never  married.  His  death 
occurred  at  his  mansion  at  Wheatland,  on  the  ist 
of  June,  1868. 


ABRAHAM  LINCOLN, 

SIXTEENTH  President  of  the  Union,  was 
born  in  Hardin  County,  Kentucky,  on  the 
1 2th  of  February,  1809.  His  parents  were 
extremely  poor,  and  could  give  him  but  scant 
opportunities  of  education.  It  is  supposed  that 
his  ancestors  came  to  this  country  from  England 
among  the  original  followers  of  William  Penn. 
About  the  middle  of  the  last  century  they  lived  in 
Berks  County,  Pennsylvania,  whence  one  branch 
of  the  family  moved  to  Virginia.  The  subject  of 
this  sketch  was  taught  to  read  and  write  by  his 
mother,  a  woman  of  intelligence  far  above  her 
humble  station.  When  he  was  in  his  eighth  year, 
the  family  removed  to  the  then  wilderness  of 
Spencer  County,  Indiana,  where,  in  the  course  of 
three  or  four  years,  the  boy  Abraham,  who  was 
quick  and  eager  to  learn,  had  a  chance  to  acquire 
the  rudiments  of  the  more  ordinary  branches  of 
such  a  common-school  education  as  was  to  be 
obtained  in  that  rude  frontier  district;  but  his 
mother  died  when  he  was  about  eleven  years  old, 


468 


OUR  FORMER  PRESIDENTS. 


which  was  to  him  a  sad  loss.  At  the  age  of  nine 
teen,  he  set  out  in  a  flat-boat,  containing  a  cargo 
of  considerable  value,  on  a  voyage  to  New  Or 
leans.  While  passing  down  the  Mississippi,  they 
were  attacked  by  a  thieving  band  of  negroes,  but 
they  courageously  beat  off  the  robbers,  and  suc 
ceeded  in  reaching  their  destination  safely. 

In  1830,  Lincoln's  father  removed  to  Decatur 
County,  Illinois.  Here  Abraham  assisted  in  estab 
lishing  the  new  home.  It  was  on  this  occasion 

o 

that  he  split  the  famous  rails  from  which,  years 
after,  he  received  his  name  of  "the  rail-splitter." 
During  the  severe  winter  which  followed,  by  his 
exertions  and  skill  as  a  hunter,  he  contributed 
greatly  in  keeping  the  family  from  starvation. 
The  next  two  years  he  passed  through  as  a  farm 
hand  and  as  a  clerk  in  a  country  store.  In  the 
Black-Hawk  War,  which  broke  out  in  1832,  he 
served  creditably  as  a  volunteer,  and  on  his  re 
turn  home  ran  for.  the  Legislature,  but  was  de 
feated.  He  next  tried  store-keeping,  but  failed ; 
and  then,  having  learned  something  of  surveying, 
worked  two  or  three  years  quite  successfully  as  a 
surveyor  for  the  Government.  In  1834,  he  was 
elected  to  the  Legislature,  in  which  he  did  the  ex 
tremely  unpopular  act  of  recording  his  name 
against  some  pro-slavery  legislation  of  that  body. 
He  soon  after  took  up  the  study  of  law,  being  ad 
mitted  to  the  bar  in  1837,  when  he  removed  to 
Springfield,  and  began  to  practice.  John  T.  Stuart 


ABRAHAM  LINCOLN.  ,  ^  j 

was  his  business  partner.  In  1842,  he  married 
Miss  Mary  Todd,  daughter  of  Robert  S.  Todd, 
Esq.,  of  Lexington,  Kentucky.  He  rose  rapidly 
in  his  profession,  to  which  having  served  a  second 
term  in  the  Legislature,  he  devoted  himself  assidu 
ously  till  1844,  during  which  year  he  canvassed 
the  State  in  behalf  of  Mr.  Clay,  the  Whig  candi 
date  for  the  Presidency.  In  1847,  he  took  his  seat 
in  the  lower  house  of  Congress,  where  he  was  the 
only  Whig  from  the  whole  State  of  Illinois.  Ser 
ving  but  a  single  term  in  Congress,  Mr.  Lincoln, 

o  o  o 

in  1848,  canvassed  the  State  for  General  Taylor, 
and  the  following  year  was  an  unsuccessful  can 
didate  for  a  seat  in  the  United  States  Senate. 
He  now  renewed  his  devotion  to  his  legal  pur 
suits,  yet  still  retained  a  deep  interest  in  national 
politics. 

The  repeal  of  the  Missouri  Compromise,  which 
created  a  profound  sensation  throughout  the 
entire  North,  brought  about  a  complete  political 
revolution  in  Illinois,  and  the  State  went  over  to 
the  Whigs.  In  this  revolution  Mr.  Lincoln  took 
a  most  active  part,  and  gained  a  wide  reputation 
as  an  effective  stump  speaker.  In  1856,  he  was 
brought  prominently  before  the  first  Republican 
National  Convention,  and  came  very  near  being 
nominated  as  its  candidate  for  the  Vice-Presidency. 
In  1858,  as  Republican  candidate  for  United 
States  Senator,  he  canvassed  Illinois  in  opposition 
to  Judge  Douglas,  the  Democratic  nominee. 


472  OUR  FORMER  PRESIDENTS. 

Douglas  was,  perhaps,  one  of  the  most  effective 
public  speakers  of  the  time,  yet  it  is  generally 
conceded  that  Lincoln,  though  he  failed  to  obtain 
the  Senatorship,  was  fully  equal  to  his  distin 
guished  and  no  doubt  more  polished  opponent. 
The  rare  versatility  and  comprehensiveness  of 
Mr.  Lincoln's  mind  found  full  illustration  in  this 
exciting  contest. 

During  the  next  eighteen  months,  Mr.  Lincoln 
visited  various  parts  of  the  country,  delivering 
speeches  of  marked  ability  and  power  ;  and  when, 
in  May,  1860,  the  Republican  National  Conven 
tion  met  at  Chicago,  he  was,  on  the  third  ballot, 
chosen  as  its  candidate  for  the  Presidency.  In 
consequence  of  a  division  in  the  Democratic  party, 
he  was  elected,  receiving  one  hundred  and  eighty 
out  of  three  hundred  and  three  electoral  votes. 
In  the  popular  vote  the  result  was  as  follows  : 
Lincoln,  1,887,610;  Douglas,  1,291,574;  Brecken- 
ridge,  Pro-slavery  Democrat,  880,082  ;  Bell,  Con 
stitutional-Union  party,  646,124:  thus  leaving 
Lincoln  in  the  minority  of  the  popular  vote  by 
nearly  a  million. 

The  election  of  Lincoln  was  at  once  made  a 
pretext  for  dissolving  the  Union.  Though  he  had 
repeatedly  declared  his  mtention  not  to  interfere 
with  the  existing  institutions  of  the  South,  and  to 
hold  inviolate  his  official  oath  to  maintain  the 
Constitution,  all  was  of  no  avail  to  dissuade  that 
section  from  its  predetermined  purpose.  A 


ABRAHAM  LINCOLN.  *»  + 

month  before  he  was  inaugurated  six  Southern 
States,  having  solemnly  withdrawn  from  the 
Union,  met  in  convention  and  framed  the  Consti 
tution  of  a  new  and  independent  Confederacy. 

The  President-elect  left  his  home  in  Springfield 
on  the  nth  of  February,  1861,  and  proceeded  by 
a  somewhat  circuitous  route  to  Washington,  de 
livering  short,  pithy  addresses  in  the  larger 
towns  and  cities  through  which  he  passed.  He 
also  visited  the  Legislatures  of  several  North 
ern  States,  everywhere  reiterating  his  purpose, 
while  not  disturbing  the  domestic  relations  of 

o 

the  South,  to  maintain  the  Union  intact  at  all 
hazards.  Though  informed  at  Philadelphia 
that  a  plot  had  been  formed  for  his  assassination 
in  Baltimore,  he  reached  Washington  on  Feb 
ruary  23d  without  molestation,  and  on  the  4th 
of  March  was  duly  inaugurated  in  the  presence 
of  an  immense  assemblage  from  all  parts  of  the 
country. 

In  his  inaugural  address  the  new  President,  as 
suring  the  people  of  the  South  that  he  had  taken 
the  oath  to  support  the  Constitution  unreservedly, 
and  that  there  were  no  grounds  for  any  fear  that 
"  their  property,"  peace,  or  persons  were  to  be 
endangered,  declared  it  to  be  his  firm  intention 
to  execute  the  laws,  collect  duties  and  imposts, 
and  to  hold  the  public  properties  in  all  the 
States — with  no  bloodshed,  however,  unless  it 
should  be  forced  upon  the  national  authority. 


474  OUR  FORMER  PRESIDEXTS. 

On  entering  upon  the  duties  of  his  office,  Mr. 
Lincoln  found  the  condition  of  affairs  far  from 
encouraging.  Seven  States  had  already  with 
drawn  from  the  Union,  and  others  were  preparing 
to  follow  their  example.  The  credit  of  the  Gov 
ernment  was  low ;  the  army  and  navy  not  only 
small  and  inefficient,  but  scattered  all  through  our 
wide  domain  ;  and  the  greater  part  of  the  public 
arms,  through  the  treachery  of  certain  officials, 
were  in  the  possession  of  the  seceded  States. 
Still,  he  was  hopeful  and  buoyant,  and  believed 
that  the  pending  difficulties  would  soon  be  ad 
justed.  Even  when,  on  the  I4th  of  April,  1861, 
the  bombardment  and  capture  of  Fort  Sumter  by 
a  Confederate  Army  roused  the  North  to  intense 
action,  though  he  immediately  issued  a  call  for 
75,000  volunteers,  it  was  seemingly  with  but  a 
faint  idea  that  they  would  be  needed.  The  fact 
that  they  were  summoned  for  only  three  months — 
a  period  far  from  long  enough  for  the  organization 
of  so  large  a  body  of  men — is  of  itself  sufficient 
evidence  of  the  delusion  under  which  he  was 
laboring. 

c> 

The  battle  of  Bull  Run,  on  the  2ist  of  July, 
1861,  which  resulted  in  the  total  route  of  the 
Government  forces,  in  a  great  measure  dispelled 
this  delusion.  The  real  magnitude  of  the  contest 
now  began  to  show  itself  to  Mr.  Lincoln.  Yet 
iiis  courage  never  faltered,  nor  was  he  less  hope 
ful  of  the  final  triumph  of  the  Union.  Cheerfully 


ABRAHAM  LINCOLN. 

accepting  the  burden  of  cares  and  responsibilities 
so  suddenly  thrown  upon  him,  he  put  his  whole 
heart  in  the  work  before  him,  and  not  even  the 
disasters  of  1862,  that  gloomiest  year  of  the  war, 
could  for  a  moment  shake  his  confiding  spirit. 
People  were  not  wanting  who  found  fault  with  the 
buoyant  temper  he  displayed  at  that  period  ;  but 
his  apparent  cheeriness  was  of  as  much  avail  as 
our  armies  in  bringing  about  the  triumph  which 
at  last  came. 

Of  the  struggle  which  resulted  in  this  triumph 
we  shall  give  no  details,  only  referring"  briefly  to 
some  of  the  more  important  actions  of  the  Presi 
dent.  The  most  momentous  of  these,  without 
doubt,  was  the  Emancipation  Proclamation,  issued 
on  the  22d  of  September,  1862,  and  to  take  effect 
on  the  ist  of  January,  1863,  by  which  slavery  was 
at  once  and  forever  done  away  with  in  the  United 
States.  In  his  message  to  Congress,  the  Presi 
dent  thus  explains  this  act:  "In  giving  freedom 
to  the  slave  we  assure  freedom  to  the  free,  hon 
orable  alike  in  what  we  give  and  what  we  pre 
serve.  We  shall  nobly  save,  or  meanly  lose,  the 
last,  best  hope  of  earth.  *  *  *  The  way  is 
plain,  peaceful,  glorious,  just — a  way  which,  if 
followed,  the  world  will  forever  applaud  and  God 
must  forever  bless." 

In  1864,  by  a  respectable  majority  in  the  popu 
lar  vote  and  a  large  one  in  the  electoral  college, 
Mr.  Lincoln  was  re-elected  to  the  Presidency. 


476  OU-K  FORMER  PRESIDENTS. 

At  the  period  of  his  second  inauguration,  the 
complete  triumph  of  the  Federal  authority  over 
the  seceded  States  was  assured.  The  last  battles 
of  the  war  had  been  fought.  War  had  substan 
tially  ceased.  The  President  was  looking  forward 
to  the  more  congenial  work  of  pacification.  How 
he  designed  to  carry  out  this  work  we  may  judge 
from  the  following  passage  in  his  second  inaugu 
ral :  "With  malice  toward  none,  with  charity 
for  all,  with  firmness  in  the  right,  as  God  gives  us 
to  see  the  right,  let  us  strive  on  to  finish  the  work 
we  are  in,  to  bind  up  the  nation's  wounds,  to  care 
for  him  who  shall  have  borne  the  battle,  and  for 
his  widow  and  his  orphans,  to  do  all  that  may 
achieve  and  cherish  a  just  and  a  lasting  peace 
among  ourselves  and  with  all  nations." 

Unfortunately,  the  kind-hearted  Lincoln  was 
not  to  carry  out  the  work  of  pacification  to  which 
he  looked  forward  with  such  bright  anticipations. 
But  a  little  more  than  a  month  after  his  second 
inauguration — on  the  night  of  the  I4th  of  April, 
1865 — John  Wilkes  Booth,  one  of  a  small  band 
of  desperate  conspirators,  as  insanely  foolish  as 
they  were  wick-ed,  fired  a  pistol-ball  into  the  brain 
of  the  President  as  he  satin  his  box  at  the  theatre. 
The  wound  proved  fatal  in  a  few  hours,  Mr.  Lin 
coln  never  recovering  his  consciousness. 

The  excitement  which  the  assassination  of  the 
President  occasioned  was  most  intense.  The 
whole  country  was  in  tears.  Nor  was  this  grief 


BIRTH-PLACE  OF  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN,  ELIZABETHTOWN,  KY. 


ABRAHAM  LINCOLN'S  RESIDENCE  AT  SPRINGFIELD,  ILL. 


ANDRE  W  J  0  HNS  ON. 

confined  to  our  own  people.  England,  France, 
all  Europe,  and  even  the  far-off  countries  of  China 
and  Japan,  joined  in  the  lamentation.  Never  was 
man  more  universally  mourned,  or  more  deserv 
ing  of  such  widespread  sorrow. 

The  funeral  honors  were  grand  and  imposing. 
His  body,  having  been  embalmed,  was  taken  to 
his  home  at  Springfield,  Illinois,  passing  through 
Baltimore,  Philadelphia,  New  York,  Albany,  Buf 
falo,  Cleveland,  Chicago,  and  other  large  towns 
and  cities.  The  entire  road  seemed  to  be  lined 
with  mourners,  while  in  the  chief  cities  the  funeral 
ceremonies  were  equally  solemn  and  magnificent. 


ANDREW  JOHNSON, 

THE  constitutional  successor  to  President 
Lincoln,  was  born  in  Raleigh,  N.  C.,  De 
cember  29th,  1808.  Prevented  by  the 
poverty  of  his  parents  from  receiving  any  school 
ing,  he  was  apprenticed,  at  the  age  of  ten,  to  a 
tailor.  On  the  expiration  of  his  apprenticeship, 
he  went  to  Greenville,  Tenn.,  where  he  married. 
By  his  wife  he  was  taught  to  write  and  to  cipher, 
having  already  learned  to  read.  Taking  consid 
erable  interest  in  local  politics,  he  formed  a  work- 
ingman's  party  in  the  town,  by  which  he  was 
elected  alderman,  and  afterward  Mayor.  In 
1835,  he  was  elected  to  a  seat  in  the  Legislature. 


^So  OUR  DORMER  PRESIDENTS. 

Failing  of  re-election  in  1837,  ne  was  again  suc 
cessful  in  1839;  and  in  1841,  was  elected  to  the 
State  Senate.  His  ability  was  now  recognized 
and,  in  1843,  he  was  sent  to  Congress  as  a  Rep 
resentative  of  the  Democratic  party.  Having 
served  five  successive  terms  in  Congress,  he  was, 
in  1853,  elected  Governor  of  Tennessee,  and 
again  in  1855.  Two  years  later,  he  was  called 
upon  to  represent  Tennessee  in  the  United  States 
Senate,  where  he  speedily  rose  to  distinction  as  a 
man  of  great  native  energy.  The  free  homestead 
bill,  giving  one  hundred  and  sixty  acres  of  the 
public  land  to  every  citizen  who  would  settle  upon 
it  and  cultivate  it  a  certain  number  of  years,  owes 
its  passage  to  his  persistent  advocacy.  On  the 
slavery  question  he  generally  went  with  the  Dem 
ocratic  party,  accepting  slavery  as  an  existing 
institution,  protected  by  the  Constitution. 

In  the  Presidential  canvass  of  1860,  Mr.  John 
son  was  a  supporter  of  Breckinridge,  but  took 
strong  grounds  against  secession  when  that  sub 
ject  came  up.  His  own  State  having  voted  itself 
out  of  the  Union,  it  was  at  the  peril  of  his  life 
that  he  returned  home  in  1861.  Attacked  by  a 
mob  on  a  railroad  car,  he  boldly  faced  his  assail 
ants,  pistol  in  hand,  and  they  slunk  away.  On 
the  4th  of  March,  1862,  he  was  appointed  Military 
Governor  of  Tennessee.  He  entered  upon  the 
duties  of  his  office  with  a  courage  and  vigor  that 
soon  entirely  reversed  the  condition  of  affairs  in 


A  MORE  IV  JOHNSON.  .  g  { 

the  State.  By  March,  1864,  he  had  so  far  restored 
order  that  elections  were  held  for  State  and 
County  officers,  and  the  usual  machinery  of  civil 
government  was  once  more  set  in  motion. 

On  the  4th  of  March,  1865,  Mr.  Johnson  was 
inaugurated  as  Vice-President  of  the  United 
States.  The  assassination  of  President  Lincoln, 
a  little  more  than  a  month  afterward,  placed  him 
in  the  vacant  chief  executive  chair.  Though  Mr. 
Johnson  made  no  distinct  pledges,  it  was  thought 
by  the  tone  of  his  inaugural  that  he  would  pursue 
a  severe  course  toward  the  seceded  States.  Yet 
the  broad  policy  of  restoration  he  finally  adopted, 
met  the  earnest  disapproval  of  the  great  party  by 
which  he  had  been  elected.  The  main  point  at 
issue  was,  "  whether  the  seceded  States  should 
be  at  once  admitted  to  representation  in  Congress, 
and  resume  all  the  rights  they  had  enjoyed  before 
the  Civil  War,  without  further  guarantees  than  the 
surrender  of  their  armies,  and  with  no  provision 
for  protecting  the  emancipated  blacks." 

Johnson,  opposed  to  making  any  restrictive 
conditions,  therefore  persistently  vetoed  the  vari 
ous  reconstructive  measures  adopted  by  Congress. 
Though  these  measures  were  finally  passed  over 
the  President's  vetoes  by  two-thirds  of  the  votes 
of  each  house,  yet  his  determined  opposition  to 
their  policy,  on  the  ground  that  it  was  unconsti 
tutional,  gave  Congress  great  offense.  This  feeling" 
finally  became  so  intense,  that  the  House  of  Repre- 


^g  2  °t'#  FORMER  PRESIDENTS. 

sentatives  brought  articles  of  impeachment  against 
him.  The  trial — the  first  of  its  kind  known  in  our 
history — was  conducted  by  the  United  States 
Senate,  presided  over  by  the  Chief  Justice  of  the 
Supreme  Court.  The  impeachment  failed,  how 
ever,  yet  only  lacked  one  vote  of  the  two-thirds 
majority  requisite  to  the  President's  conviction. 

In  1866,  Mr.  Johnson  made  a  tour  to  Chicago, 
in  the  course  of  which  he  made  many  petty 
speeches,  which  brought  upon  him  both  censure 
and  ridicule,  but  he  was  regarded  as  politically 
harmless,  and  to  the  close  of  his  term,  March  4th, 
1869,  he  was  allowed  to  pursue  his  own  policy 
with  but  little  opposition.  Retiring  to  his  home 
at  Greenville,  he  began  anew  to  take  an  active 
part  in  the  politics  of  his  State.  It  required  sev 
eral  years,  however,  for  him  to  regain  anything 
like  his  earlier  popularity  ;  but  finally,  in  January, 
1875,  he  succeeded  in  securing  his  election  once 
more  to  the  Senate  of  the  United  States,  but 
he  died  on  the  30 th  of  the  following  July. 


ULYSSES   S.  GRANT. 

HISTORY  has  recorded   few  instances   of 
the  rapid  and  unexpected  rise  of  individ 
uals  in  humble  circumstances  to  the  high 
est  positions,  more  remarkable  than  that  afforded 
by  the  life  of  Ulysses  S.  Grant,  the  eighteenth 


UL  YSSES  S.   GRANT,  ,  g  ^ 

President  of  the  United  States.  He  was  the  son 
of  Jesse  R.  and  Hannah  Simpson  Grant,  both  na 
tives  of  Pennsylvania.  He  was  born  April  27th, 
1822,  at  Point  Pleasant,  Clermont  County,  Ohio. 
His  early  education  was  merely  that  of  the  com 
mon  schools  of  his  day.  By  a  conjunction  of 
favoring  circumstances,  he  passed,  in  1839,  from 
the  bark- mill  of  his  father's  tannery  to  the  Mili 
tary  Academy  at  West  Point.  He  was  a  diligent 
but  not  distinguished  student.  Having  graduated 
in  1843,  the  twenty-first  in  a  class  of  thirty-nine,  he 
signalized  himself  by  his  braverv  in  the  Mexican 

O  J  J 

War,  being  rewarded  therefor  by  a  captain's  com 
mission.  He  then  married  Miss  Julia  J.  Dent,  of 
Saint  Louis,  and,  after  spending  several  years  with 
his  regiment  in  California  and  Oregon,  left  the 
service  in  July,  1854,  tried  farming  and  the  real 
estate  business  with  moderate  success,  and  finally 
was  taken  by  his  father  as  a  partner  in  his  leather 
store  at  Galena. 

He  was  yet  thus  humbly  employed  when  Presi 
dent  Lincoln  issued  his  call  for  75,000  three 
months'  men.  Marching  to  Springfield  at  the 
head  of  a  company  of  volunteers,  his  military 
knowledge  made  him  exceedingly  useful  to  Gov 
ernor  Yates,  who  retained  him  as  mustering  officer, 
until  he  was  commissioned  colonel  of  the  Twenty- 
first  Regiment  of  Illinois  Volunteers,  on  the  1 7th  of 
June,  1861.  The  following  August,  having  been 
made  a  brigadier-general,  he  took  command  at  Cai- 


486 


OUR  FORMER  PRESIDENTS. 


ro,  where  he  displayed  much  activity  and  attracted 
some  attention.  On  the  7th  of  November  he 
fought  the  Battle  of  Belmont,  where  he  had  a 
horse  shot  under  him.  His  capture  of  Fort  Don- 
elson,  with  all  its  defenders,  on  the  I5th  of  Febru 
ary,  1862,  after  a  severe  battle  resulting  in  the  first 
real  and  substantial  triumph  of  the  war,  at  once 
gave  Grant  a  national  reputation.  For  this  bril 
liant  victory  he  was  immediately  rewarded  by  a 
commission  as  major-general  of  volunteers. 

Soon  after  the  capture  of  Donelson,  General 
Grant  was  placed  in  command  of  an  important 
expedition  up  the  Tennessee  River.  At  Pittsburg 
Landing,  while  preparing  for  an  attack  on  Corinth, 
a  part  of  his  army  was  surprised,  at  daybreak  of 
the  6th  of  April,  by  an  overwhelming  force  of 
Confederates,  and  driven  from  their  camp  with 
severe  loss.  Rallying  his  men  that  evening  under 
the  protection  of  the  gun-boats,  Grant,  having 
been  reinforced  during  the  night,  renewed  the 
battle  the  following  morning,  and,  after  an  obsti 
nate  contest,  compelled  the  enemy  to  fall  back 
upon  Corinth. 

In  July,  General  Grant  was  placed  in  command 
of  the  Department  of  West  Tennessee,  with  his 
headquarters  at  Corinth,  which  the  Confederates 
had  evacuated  in  the  previous  May.  On  the  igih 
of  September  he  gained  a  complete  victory  over 
the  Confederates  at  luka,  and  then  removed  his 
headquarters  to  Jackson,  Tennessee.  Vicksburg, 


ULYSSES  S.   GRANT. 

on  the  Mississippi,  having  been  strongly  fortified 
and  garrisoned  by  the  enemy,  the  duty  of  taking 
that  place  devolved  upon  Grant.  After  several 
attempts  against  it  from  the  north,  all  of  which 
resulted  more  or  less  disastrously,  he  finally 
moved  his  army  down  the  west  bank  of  the  river, 
and,  crossing  to  the  east  side,  at  a  point  below  the 
city,  began,  on  the  i8th  of  May,  1863,  a  formal 
siege,  which  lasted  until  the  4th  of  the  ensuing 
July,  when  the  place  was  surrendered,  with  nearly 
thirty  thousand  prisoners  and  an  immense  amount 
of  military  stores. 

Grant's  capture  of  Vicksburg,  the  result  of  that 
tenacity  of  purpose  which  is  a  marked  trait  in  his 
character,  was  hailed  with  unbounded  delight  by 
the  whole  country.  He  was  immediately  commis 
sioned  a  major-general  in  the  regular  army,  and 
placed  in  command  of  the  entire  military  Division 
of  the  Mississippi.  Congress  also,  meeting  in 
December,  ordered  a  gold  medal  to  be  struck  for 
him,  and  passed  resolutions  of  thanks  to  him  and 
his  army.  Still  further,  a  bill  reviving  the  grade 
of  lieutenant-general  was  passed,  and,  on  the  ist 
of  March,  1864,  Grant  was  appointed  by  Presi 
dent 'Lincoln  to  the  position  thus  created. 

Having  now  been  placed  at  the  head  of  an 
army  of  seven  hundred  thousand  men,  Grant, 
announcing  that  his  headquarters  would  be  in  the 
field,  "at  once  planned  two  movements,  to  be  di 
rected  simultaneously  against  vital  points  of  the 


OUR  FORMER  PRESIDENTS. 

Confederacy."  One  of  these,  with  Richmond  for 
its  point  of  attack,  he  commanded  in  person  ;  the 
other,  against  Atlanta,  in  Georgia,  was  headed  by 
General  Sherman. 

On  the  3d  of  May,  Grant  began  the  movement 
against  Richmond,  crossing  the  Rapidan,  and 
pushing  determinedly  into  the  "  Wilderness," 
where,  met  by  Lee,  a  bloody  battle  was  fought, 
foiling  his  first  attempt  to  place  himself  between 
the  Confederate  Army  and  their  threatened  capi 
tal.  Advancing  by  the  left  flank,  he  was  again 
confronted  by  Lee  at  Spottsylvania,  and  com 
pelled  to  make  another  flank  movement,  resulting 
in  his  again  being  brought  to  a  stand  by  his  wary 
antagonist.  Declaring  his  determination  "to 
fight  it  out  on  this  line  if  it  took  him  all  summer," 
Grant  still  pushed  on  by  a  series  of  flank  move 
ments,  each  culminating  in  a  sanguinary  battle, 
in  which  his  losses  were  fearful,  and  finally,  pass 
ing  Richmond  on  the  east,  crossed  the  James, 
and  laid  siege  to  the  city  of  Petersburg,  the  cap 
ture  of  which  now  became  the  great  problem  of 
the  war. 

Grant  crossed  the   James  on  the  i5th  of  June, 

1864.  It  was   not   until  the  beginning  of  April, 

1865,  after  a  series  of  desperate  assaults,  coming 
to  a  crisis    in  the  battle  of  Five  Forks,  in   which 
Grant  gained  a  crowning  triumph,  that    Peters 
burg  finally  succumbed.     The  fall   of  Petersburg 
compelled    Lee   to  evacuate  Richmond  with   the 


UL  YSSES  S.  GRANT. 

meagre  remnant  of  his  army.  He  retreated 
westward  toward  Danville,  followed  closely  by 
Grant.  At  the  same  time  Sherman,  who  had  met 
with  almost  unparalleled  success  in  his  part  of  the 
concerted  movement,  was  marching  triumphantly 
through  Alabama  and  Georgia  to  the  sea-coast, 
along  which  he  swept  northward,  and  was  threat 
ening  Lee  from  another  quarter,  so  that,  placed 
between  two  large  armies,  both  flushed  with  vic 
tory,  no  other  resource  was  left  him  than  to  sur 
render  the  thin  remnant  of  his  force.  This  he 
did,  to  Grant,  at  Appomattox  Court-House,  on  the 
9th  of  April,  1865,  and  the  "Great  Rebellion  "  was 
thus  virtually  brought  to  a  close. 

On  the  conclusion  of  the  war,  Grant  made 
Washington  his  headquarters,  and  was,  in  July, 
1866,  commissioned  General  of  the  United  States 
Army — a  rank  which  had  been  specially  created 
to  do  him  honor.  In  August,  1867,  he  for  awhile 
acted  as  Secretary  of  War  ad  interim  under 
President  Johnson ;  but,  notwithstanding  the  lat- 
ter's  earnest  request  to  the  contrary,  he,  when  the 
Senate  refused  to  sanction  Stanton's  removal, 
restored  the  position  to  that  gentleman,  from 
whom  it  had  been  taken. 

In  the  Republican  National  Convention,  held  at 
Chicago,  on  the  2ist  of  May,  1868,  General  Grant 
was  on  the  first  ballot  unanimously  nominated  as 
the  candidate  of  that  party  for  the  Presidency. 
His  Democratic  competitor  was  Horatio  Sey- 


OUR- FORMER  PRESIDENTS. 

mour,  of  New  York.  The  election  resulted  in 
Grant  receiving  two  hundred  and  fourteen  out  of 
two  hundred  and  ninety-four  electoral  votes.  He 
was  inaugurated  on  the  4th  of  March,  1869. 
Though  brought  into  conflict  with  some  of  the 
prominent  men  of  his  party  by  his  determined 
effort  to  bring  about  the  annexation  of  San  Do 
mingo  to  the  United  States,  President  Grant's 
first  official  term  gave  satisfaction  to  the  mass  of 
his  Republican  adherents.  During  the  first  six 
months  of  his  term  the  public  debt  was  reduced 
some  fifty  millions  of  dollars,  order  and  prosper 
ity  were  rapidly  restored  throughout  the  Southern 
States,  and  the  hatred  and  animosities  of  the  war 
were  greatly  softened,  though  Grant's  firmness  in 
many  instances  had  begotten  severe  opposition. 

In  their  National  Convention  at  Philadelphia, 
on  the  5th  of  June,  1872,  he  was  nominated  by 
acclamation  for  a  second  term.  His  opponent  in 
this  contest  was  Horace  Greeley,  who  was  sup 
ported  by  both  the  Democrats  and  the  so-called 
Liberal  Republicans.  The  election  resulted  in 
the  success  of  General  Grant,  who  received  two 
hundred  and  sixty-eight  out  of  the  three  hundred 
and  forty-eight  electoral  votes  cast.  He  was  in 
augurated  a  second  time  on  the  4th  of  March, 

1873- 

Grant's  second  term  was  one  of  improving 
prospects,  though  the  transitions  from  the  exces 
sive  inflations  attendant  on  the  war  to  the  solid 


GENERAL  GRANT'S  "WELCOME  HOME"  VN  ;PhlLADE'L?HlA. 


UL  YSSES  S.  GRANT.  .Q-, 

business  basis  of  peace  made  financial  affairs  un 
steady  and  led  to  the  famous  panic  of  '73.  But 
prosperity  returned  gradually  and  on  a  more  solid 
basis,  and  the  great  Centennial  Exposition  of  1876, 
at  Philadelphia,  was  a  fitting  crown  upon  the  final 
year  of  Grant's  eight  years  of  Presidential  work 
and  honor.  In  his  last  message  to  Congress 
he  urged  compulsory  common-school  education 
where  other  means  of  education  are  not  provided; 
the  exclusion  of  all  sectarianism  from  public 
schools;  the  prohibition  of  voting,  after  1890,  to 
all  persons  unable  to  read  and  write ;  the  perma 
nent  separation  of  Church  and  State;  entire  reli 
gious  freedom  for  all  sects,  and  legislation  to 
speedily  secure  a  return  to  sound  currency. 

General  Grant  was  strongly  urged  to  accept 
the  nomination  for  a  third  term,  but  declined  the 
honor  and  retired  to  private  life,  March  4th,  1877. 
After  his  long-continued  public  service,  an  ex 
tended  trip  abroad  was  deemed  desirable  by  the 
General.  Arrangements  were  matured  accord 
ingly,  and  on  May  1 7th,  1877,  he  sailed  from  Phila 
delphia  in  the  steamer  Indiana.  His  journey  was 
prosperous  in  every  respect.  He  made  the  tour 
of  the  world  and  reached  San  Francisco  Septem 
ber  2Oth,  1879.  Everywhere  he  was  the  recipient 
of  the  highest  honors.  The  most  distinguished 
crowned  heads  and  military  leaders  of  all  nations 
were  proud  to  do  him  honor,  and  he  in  return  did 
many  personal  friendly  offices  which  were  most 


OUR  FORMER  PRESIDENTS. 

gratefully  recognized.  He  finally  settled  in  New 
York  city,  where  he  is  justly  honored  and  highly 
appreciated  by  all. 


RUTHERFORD  B.  HAYES. 

RUTHERFORD  BIRCHARD  HAYES, 
the  nineteenth  incumbent  of  the  Presiden 
tial  chair,  was  born  at  Delaware,  Ohio, 
October  4th,  1822.  He  enjoyed  the  most  favorable 
surroundings  of  refinement  and  culture  in  his 
youth,  and  graduated  at  Kenyon  College  in  1842. 
In  1845,  ne  graduated  from  the  Harvard  Law 
School  and  began  practice  in  Fremont,  Ohio, 
from  which  place  he  removed  to  Cincinnati  in  1849. 
He  served  as  City  Solicitor  for  several  years, 
until  the  breaking  out  of  the  war,  when  he  took 
the  field  as  major  of  the  Twenty- third  Ohio  Volun 
teers.  He  had  a  splendid  record,  rising  to  the  com 
mand  of  a  division,  being  breveted  major-general, 
and  continuing  until  June  ist,  1865,  when  he  re 
signed  his  rank  and  returned  to  Cincinnati. 

In  December,  1865,  he  entered  Congress,  to 
which  he  had  been  elected  before  he  left  the  army. 
He  was  re-elected  to  this  position,  but  resigned 
to  become  Governor  of  Ohio,  to  which  office  he 
was  three  times  chosen,  an  honor  never  before 
conferred  in  that  State.  The  prominent  issues  in 
his  last  campaign  for  the  Governorship  were  the 


£ 


RUTHERFORD   B.  HAYES. 


497 


currency  and  the  school  questions.  So  satis 
factory  were  his  views  on  these  measures,  that  he 
received  much  favorable  mention  for  nomination 
in  the  Presidential  campaign  then  approaching. 

On  June  i6th,  1876,  the  Republican  Convention 
met  at  Cincinnati,  and  on  the  seventh  ballot 
Hayes  received  the  nomination  over  James  G. 
Elaine  and  Benjamin  H.  Bristow.  Hayes  received 
three  hundred  and  eighty-four  votes,  Blaine  three 
hundred  and  fifty-one,  and  Bristow  twenty-one. 
The  contest  was  bitter  in  the  Convention  and  in 
the  succeeding  canvass,  and  its  close  was  a  disputed 
election,  the  electoral  votes  of  Florida,  South  Caro 
lina,  and  Louisiana  being  claimed  by  both  parties, 
as  was  one  electoral  vote  of  Oregon  also.  The 
contest  was  finally  referred  to  an  Electoral  Com 
mission,  which  decided  by  a  vote  of  eight  to  seven 
that  Hayes  was  elected,  and  he,  accordingly,  suc 
ceeded  General  Grant  in  the  office  on  March  4th, 
18/7,  the  inauguration  occurring  on  the  next  day, 
Monday,  March  5th.  The  great  feature  of  this 
Administration  was  the  full  resumption  of  specie 
payments,  a  success  achieved  without  jar  or  con 
fusion  of  any  kind  in  the  business  of  the  country. 

At  the  close  of  his  term,  March  4th,  1881,  Mr. 
Hayes  turned  over  the  Administration  to  his  suc 
cessor  amid  peace  and  prosperity  such  as  the  na 
tion  seldom  enjoyed,  and  returned  to  his  home  in 
Ohio,  where  he  still  lives  (June,  1884),  respected 
and  beloved  by  all  his  fellow-citizens. 


498 


OUR  FORMER  PRESIDENTS. 


JAMES  A.  GARFIELD. 


THE  nation's  choice  for  the  twenty-fourth 
Presidential  term,  James  Abram  Garfield, 
was  born  November  iQth,  1831,  at  Orange, 
Cuyahoga  County,  Ohio.  His  ancestors  were  early 
immigrants  of  New  England,  and  they  bore  noble 
part  in  all  the  hardships  and  sufferings  of  the  Rev 
olutionary  and  earlier  periods.  His  parents  were 
Abram  and  Eliza  Garfield,  his  father  dying  when 
James  was  but  a  child,  and  his  mother  surviving  to 
see  his  exaltation  to  the  Presidency  and  his  un 
timely  end. 

James  Garfield's  early  life  was  one  filled  with 
the  struggles  incident  to  poverty  on  the  frontier 
settlements.  On  the  farm,  on  the  canal,  and  at 
the  carpenter's  bench,  he  toiled  energetically,  read 
ing  and  studying  all  the  while,  that  he  might  fit 
himself  for  college.  He  finally  betook  himself  to 
teaching  as  a  means  of  subsistence,  and  while  so 
engaged  pressed  his  own  education  diligently.  He 
decided  to  enter  Williams  College,  Mass.,  which 
he  did,  in  June,  1854,  in  a  class  nearly  two  years 
advanced.  He  had  saved  some  money,  but  he 
worked  during  his  vacations  and  at  spare  mo 
ments,  and  so  was  enabled  to  complete  his  course, 
though  somewhat  in  debt,  graduating  August,  1856. 
While  yet  a  student,  he  became  much  interested  in 
politics  and  made  some  speeches  on  his  favorite 
views. 


JAMES  A.   GARFIELD. 

After  his  graduation,  he  entered  Hiram  College, 
Ohio,  as  a  teacher  of  ancient  languages  and  liter 
ature,  and  soon  after  became  its  President.  Mean 
while,  he  was  active  in  a  wide  variety  of  good 
works,  preaching,  addressing  temperance  meet 
ings,  making  political  speeches,  and  at  the  same 
time  pursuing  the  study  of  the  law.  In  1858,  he 
married  Lucretia  Rudolph,.who  had  been  a  fellow- 
student  with  him  in  his  academic  schooldays. 

As  a  logical  and  effective  political  speaker,  Gar- 
field  soon  became  prominent,  and  in  1859  was 
elected  to  the  Senate  of  his  native  State,  where  he 
immediately  took  high  rank,  although  he  still  con 
tinued  to  be  much  engaged  in  literary  and  relig 
ious  work.  In  August,  1861,  he  solemnly  consid 
ered  the  question  of  entering  the  army,  and  wrote 
his  conclusion  thus :  "  I  regard  my  life  as  given  to 
my  country.  I  am  only  anxious  to  make  as  much 
of  it  as  possible  before  the  mortgage  on  it  is  fore 
closed." 

As  a  soldier,  Garfield  was  thorough,  brave,  and 
efficient.  He  had  a  large  share  of  hard  fighting  in 
the  West  and  the  Southwest,  but  he  won  high  praise 
in  it  all,  rising  from  the  rank  of  lieutenant-colonel 
to  that  of  brigadier-general  and  chief  of  staff  to 
General  Rosecrans,  in  which  capacity  he  served 
until  the  battle  of  Chickamauga  had  been  fought, 
when  he  was  promoted  to  a  major-generalship 
for  "gallant  and  meritorious  conduct"  on  that 
bloody  field. 


5O2  OUR  FORMER  PRESIDENTS. 

Just  before  this  battle,  Garfield  had  been  chosen 
by  his  fellow-citizens  in  Ohio  as  their  representa 
tive  in  Congress.  To  accept  this  post  was  deemed 
his  duty  by  all  his  friends  and  advisers,  so  he  re 
signed  his  commission  on  the  5th  of  December, 
1863,  and  took  his  place  in  Congress  at  less  than 
half  the  salary  drawn  by  one  of  his  military  rank. 
In  this  new  position  he  exercised  the  same  earn 
est  conscientiousness  he  had  ever  shown.  He  was 
a  master  workman  in  every  line  of  duty  there  for 
seventeen  years,  during  which  period  he  left  the 
imprint  of  his  ability  and  patriotism  as  thoroughly 
upon  the  legislation  of  the  country  as  any  one 
man  in  public  service.  He  certainly  realized  the 
meaning  of  the  title,  "a  public  benefactor,"  as  de 
fined  in  his  own  speech  made  on  December  loth, 
1878,  in  which  he  said:  "The  man  who  wants  to 
serve  his  country  must  put  himself  in  the  line  of 
its  leading  thought,  and  that  is  the  restoration  of 
business,  trade,  commerce,  industry,  sound  polit 
ical  economy,  hard  money,  and  the  payment  of  all 
obligations,  and  the  man  who  can  add  anything  in 
the  direction  of  accomplishing  any  of  these  pur 
poses  is  a  public  benefactor." 

No  man  with  such  an  ideal  could  fail  to  at  once 
take  high  rank.  Nor  did  Garfield  fail  to  do  so. 
At  the  outset  he  was  recognized  as  a  leader,  and 
his  influence  grew  with  his  service.  He  was  at 
once  appointed  on  the  Military  Committee,  under 
the  chairmanship  of  General  Schenck  and  the  col- 


GEN.  GARFIELD-S  HOME,  MENTOR,  OHIO. 


JAMES  A.  GARFIELD. 

leagueship  of  Farnsworth,  both  fresh  from  the 
field.  In  this  work  he  was  of  great  service — just 
as  Rosecrans  anticipated  he  would  be.  His  thor 
ough  knowledge  of  the  wants  of  the  army  was  of 
the  first  value  in  all  legislation  pertaining  to  mil 
itary  matters.  He  was  appointed  chairman  of  a 
select  committee  of  seven  appointed  to  investigate 
the  alleged  frauds  in  the  money-printing  bureau 
of  the  Treasury,  and  on  other  very  important  and 
complicated  matters  he  rendered  service  of  the 
greatest  value. 

He  did  most  excellent  work,  as  an  orator,  on 
many  momentous  questions,  as  the  following  partial 
list  of  his  published  Congressional  speeches  will 
show :  "  Free-  Commerce  between  the  States  ;" 
"National  Bureau  of  Education;"  "The  Public 
Debt  and  Specie  Payments  ;"  "Taxation  of  United 
States  Bonds  ;"  "  Ninth  Census  ;"  "  Public  Expen 
ditures  and  Civil  Service;"  "The  Tariff;"  "Cur 
rency  and  the  Banks ;"  "  Debate  on  the  Currency 
Bill ;"  "  On  the  McGarrahan  Claim  ;"  «  The  Right 
to  Originate  Revenue  Bills ;"  "  Public  Expendi 
tures  ;"  f(  National  Aid  to  Education ,"  "  The  Cur 
rency  ;"  "  Revenues  and  Expenditures  ;"  "  Curren 
cy  and  the  Public  Faith ;"  "Appropriations;"  "Count 
ing  the  Electoral  Vote  ;"  "  Repeal  of  the  Resump 
tion  Law  ;"  "  The  New  Scheme  of  American  Fi 
nance  ;"  "The  Tariff;""  Suspension  and  Resump 
tion  of  Specie  Payments ;"  "  Relation  of  the  Na 
tional  Government  to  Science ;"  "  Su^ar  Tariff." 


506  OUR  FORMER  PRESIDENTS. 

It  Was  a  surprise  to  nobody,  but  a  real  pleasure 
to  multitudes,  when  at  Chicago,  on  June  8th,  1880, 
James  A.  Garfield  received  the  nomination  for 
the  Presidency  by  three  hundred  and  ninety-nine 
votes  in  a  total  of  seven  hundred  and  fifty-five. 
This  was  upon  the  thirty-sixth  ballot  of  the  nomi 
nating  Convention,  but  not  until  then  had  Garfield 
been  prominently  brought  forward.  His  nomi 
nation  was  at  once  made  unanimous  in  the  Con 
vention,  and  hailed  with  joy  throughout  the  land. 
His  chief  opponent  was  the  superb  soldier,  Major- 
General  Winfield  S.  Hancock,  but  Garfield  and 
Arthur  received  two  hundred  and  fourteen  of 
three  hundred  and  sixty-nine  electoral  votes  and 
secured  the  highest  offices  in  the  gift  of  the  na 
tion. 

Garfield  was  inaugurated  amid  general  satisfac 
tion  throughout  the  nation.  His  venerable  mother 
saw  her  son's  exaltation  on  that  memorable  In 
auguration  Day,  and  received  from  him,  as  the 
newly  made  President,  his  kiss  of  filial  love. 
Every  department  of  the  public  service  felt  the 
force  of  the  new  regime,  and  prosperity  beamed 
on  every  side  until  the  fatal  Saturday,  July  2d, 
1 88 1,  when  the  assassin's  bullet  cut  short  the  era 
of  joy  and  hopefulness  which  had  just  fairly 
dawned.  Of  the  subsequent  weeks  of  suffering 
and  anxiety,  through  which  that  valuable  life 
trembled  in  the  balance,  while  the  nation's  hopes 
and  fears  rose  and  fell  alternately,  and  of  the  sad, 


SAMUEL  J.  KIRKWOOD, 

SECT.    OF    THE    INTERIOR. 


PRESIDENT  GARPIELD'S  CABINET. 


JAMES  A.  GARFIELD. 


509 


sad  end  at  Elberon,  New  Jersey,  on  September 
29th,  the  world  is  well  informed.  The  wound 
then  made  in  the  nation's  heart  is  open  still,  and 
further  mention  need  not  here  be  made  of  those 
agonizing  and  still  fresh  experiences.  But  the 
fittest  tribute  that  can  here  be  paid  to  Garfield's 
memory  is  from  the  lips  of  his  intimate  associate  and 
fellow-worker,  Hon.  James  G.  Elaine.  By  request 
of  the  national  authorities,  he  delivered,  February 
27th,  1882,  the  official  eulogy  upon  the  deceased 
President.  All  the  magnates  of  the  capital  were 
present  in  the  Hall  of  Representatives  to  hear 
that  oration,  from  which  masterly  effort  the  follow 
ing  somewhat  disconnected,  but  none  the  less 
effective,  paragraphs  are  taken  : 

No  manly  man  feels  anything  of  shame  in 
looking  back  to  early  struggles  with  adverse  cir 
cumstances,  and  no  man  feels  a  worthier  pride  than 
when  he  has  conquered  the  obstacles  in  his  pro 
gress.  But  no  one  of  noble  mold  desires  to  be 
looked  upon  as  having  occupied  a  menial  position, 
as  having  been  repressed  by  a  feeling  of  inferiority, 
or  as  having  suffered  the  evils  of  poverty  until  re 
lief  was  found  at  the  hand  of  charity.  General 
Garfield's  youth  presented  no  hardships  which 
family  love  and  family  energy  did  not  overcome, 
subjected  him  to  no  privations  which  he  did  not 
cheerfully  accept,  and  left  no  memories  save  those 
which  were  recalled  with  delight  and  transmitted 
with  profit  and  with  pride. 


OUR  FORMER  PRESIDENTS. 


Garfield's  early  opportunities  for  securing  an 
education  were  extremely  limited,  and  yet  were 
sufficient  to  develop  in  him  an  intense  desire  to 
learn.  He  could  read  at  three  years  of  age,  and 
each  winter  he  had  the  advantage  of  the  district 
school.  He  read  all  the  books  to  be  found  within 
the  circle  of  his  acquaintance ;  some  of  them  he 
got  by  heart.  While  yet  in  childhood  he  was  a 
constant  student  of  the  Bible,  and  became  familiar 
with  its  literature.  The  dignity  and  earnestness 
of  his  speech  in  his  maturer  life  gave  evidence  of 
this  early  training.  At  eighteen  years  of  age  he 
was  able  to  teach  school,  and  thenceforward  his 
ambition  was  to  obtain  a  college  education.  To 
this  end  he  bent  all  his  efforts,  working  in  the  har 
vest  field,  at  the  carpenter's  bench,  and,  in  the 
winter  season,  teaching  the  common  schools  of 
the  neighborhood.  While  thus  laboriously  occu 
pied  he  found  time  to  prosecute  his  studies,  and 
was  so  successful  that  at  twenty-two  years  of  age 
he  was  able  to  enter  the  junior  class  at  Williams 
College,  then  under  the  presidency  of  the  vener 
able  and  honored  Mark  Hopkins,  who,  in  the  full 
ness  of  his  powers,  survives  the  eminent  pupil  to 
whom  he  was  of  inestimable  service. 

The  history  of  Garfield's  life  to  this  period  pre 
sents  no  novel  features.  He  had  undoubtedly 
shown  perseverance,  self-reliance,  self-sacrifice, 
and  ambition — qualities  which,  be  it  said  for  the 
honor  of  our  country,  are  everywhere  to  be  found 


JAMES  A.   GARFIELD. 


511 


among  the  young  men  of  America.  But  from  his 
graduation  at  Williams  onward,  to  the  hour  of 
his  tragical  death,  Garfield's  career  was  eminent 
and  exceptional.  Slowly  working  through  his 
educational  period,  receiving  his  diploma  when 
twenty-four  years  of  age,  he  seemed  at  one  bound 
to  spring  into  conspicuous  and  brilliant  success. 
Within  six  years  he  was  successively  president  of 
a  college,  State  Senator  of  Ohio,  Major-General 
of  the  Army  of  the  United  States,  and  Repre 
sentative-elect  to  the  National  Congress.  A 
combination  of  honors  so  varied,  so  elevated,  within 
a  period  so  brief,  and  to  a  man  so  young,  is  without 
precedent  or  parallel  in  the  history  of  the  country. 
Garfield's  army  life  was  begun  with  no  other 
military  knowledge  than  such  as  he  had  hastily 
gained  from  books  in  the  few  months  preceding 
his  march  to  the  field.  Stepping  from  civil  life  to 
the  head  of  a  regiment,  the  first  order  he  received 
when  ready  to  cross  the  Ohio,  was  to  assume  com 
mand  of  a  brigade,  and  to  operate  as  an  indepen 
dent  force  in  Eastern  Kentucky.  His  immediate 
duty  was  to  check  the  advance  of  Humphrey 
Marshall,  who  was  marching  down  the  Big  Sandy 
with  the  intention  of  occupying,  in  connection  with 
other  Confederate  forces,  the  entire  territory  of 
Kentucky,  and  of  precipitating  the  State  into  se 
cession  This  was  at  the  close  of  the  year  1861. 
Seldom,  if  .ever,  has  a  young  college  professor 
been  thrown  into  a  more  embarrassing  and  dis- 


512 


OUR  FORMER  PRESIDENTS. 


couraging  position.  He  knew  just  enough  of 
military  science,  as  he  expressed  it  himself,  to 
measure  the  extent  of  his  ignorance,  and  with  a 
handful  of  men  he  was  marching,  in  rough  winter 
weather,  into  a  strange  country,  among  a  hostile 
population,  to  confront  a  largely  superior  force 
under  the  command  of  a  distinguished  graduate 
of  West  Point,  who  had  seen  active  and  import 
ant  service  in  two  preceding  wars. 

The  result  of  the  campaign  is  matter  of  history. 
The  skill,  the  endurance,  the  extraordinary  energy 
shown  byGarfield,  the  courage  he  imparted  to  his 
men,  raw  and  untried  as  himself,  the  measures  he 
adopted  to  increase  his  force  and  to  create  in  the 
enemy's  mind  exaggerated  estimates  of  his  num 
bers,  bore  perfect  fruit  in  the  routing  of  Marshall, 
the  capture  of  his  camp,  the  dispersion  of  his 
force,  and  the  emancipation  of  an  important 
territory  from  the  control  of  the  Rebellion.  Com 
ing  at  the  close  of  a  long  series  of  disasters  to 
the  Union  arms,  Garfield's  victory  had  an  unusual 
and  extraneous  importance,  and  in  the  popular 
judgment  elevated  the  young  commander  to  the 
rank  of  a  military  hero.  With  less  than  two 
thousand  men  in  his  entire  command,  with  a  mo 
bilized  force  of  only  eleven  hundred,  without  can 
non,  he  had  met  an  army  of  five  thousand  and 
defeated  them,  driving  Marshall's  forces  succes 
sively  from  two  strongholds  of  their,  own  selec 
tion,  fortified  with  abundant  artillery.  Major- 


JAMES  A.  GARFIELD.  5  j  3 

General  Buell,  commanding  the  Department  of 
the  Ohio,  an  experienced  and  able  soldier  of  the 
Regular  Army,  published  an  order  of  thanks  and 
congratulation  on  the  brilliant  result  of  the  Big 
Sandy  campaign,  which  would  have  turned  the 
head  of  a  less  cool  and  sensible  man  than  Gar- 
field.  Buell  declared  that  his  services  had  called 
into  action  the  highest  qualities  of  a  soldier,  and 
President  Lincoln  supplemented  these  words  of 
praise  by  the  more  substantial  reward  of  a  briga 
dier-general's  commission,  to  bear  date  from  the 
day  of  his  decisive  victory  over  Marshall. 

Early  in  1863,  Garfield  was  assigned  to  the 
highly  important  and  responsible  post  of  chief  of 
staff  to  General  Rosecrans,  then  at  the  head  of 
the  Army  of  the  Cumberland.  Perhaps  in  a  great 
military  campaign,  no  subordinate  officer  requires 
sounder  judgment  and  quicker  knowledge  of  men 
than  the  chief  of  staff  to  the  commanding  general. 
An  indiscreet  man  in  such  a  position  can  sow  more 
discord,  breed  more  jealousy,  and  disseminate 
more  strife  than  any  other  officer  in  the  entire  or 
ganization.  When  General  Garfield  assumed  his 
new  duties  he  found  various  troubles  already  well 
developed,  and  seriously  affecting  the  value  and 
efficiency  of  the  Army  of  the  Cumberland.  The  en 
ergy,  the  impartiality,  and  the  tact  with  which  he 
sought  to  allay  these  dissensions,  and  to  discharge 
the  duties  of  his  new  and  trying  position,  will 
always  remain  one  of  the  most  striking  proofs  of 


5H 


OUR  FORMER  PRESIDENTS. 


his  great  versatility.  His  military  duties  closed 
on  the  memorable  field  of  Chickamauga,  a  field 
which,  however  disastrous  to  the  Union  arms,  gave 
to  him  the  occasion  of  winning  imperishable  laurels. 
The  very  rare  distinction  was  accorded  him  of  a 
great  promotion  for  his  bravery  on  a  field  that 
was  lost.  President  Lincoln  appointed  him  a  ma 
jor-general  in  the  army  of  the  United  States  for 
gallant  and  meritorious  conduct  in  the  battle  of 
Chickamauga. 

The  Army  of  the  Cumberland  was  reorganized 
under  the  command  of  General  Thomas,  who 
promptly  offered  Garfield  one  of  its  divisions.  He 
was  extremely  desirous  to  accept  the  position,  but 
was  embarrassed  by  the  fact  that  he  had,  a  year 
before,  been  elected  to  Congress,  and  the  time 
when  he  must  take  his  seat  was  drawing  near. 
He  preferred  to  remain  in  the  military  service,  and 
had  within  his  own  breast  the  largest  confidence 
of  success  in  the  wider  field  which  his  new  rank 
opened  to  him.  Balancing  the  arguments  on  the 
one  side  and  the  other,  anxious  to  determine  what 
was  for  the  best,  desirous  above  all  things  to  do 
his  patriotic  duty,  he  was  decisively  influenced  by 
the  advice  of  President  Lincoln  and  Secretary 
Stanton,  both  of  whom  assured  him  that  he  could, 
at  that  time,  be  of  especial  value  in  the  House  of 
Representatives.  He  resigned  his  commission  of 
Major- General  on  the  fifth  day  of  December,  1863, 
and  took  his  seat  in  the  house  of  Representatives 


JAMES  A.  GARFIELD. 


515 


on  the  seventh.  He  had  served  two  years  and 
four  months  in  the  army,  and  had  just  completed 
his  thirty-second  year. 

The  Thirty-Eighth  Congress  is  pre-eminently 
entitled  in  history  to  the  designation  of  the  War 
Congress.  It  was  elected  while  the  war  was  fla 
grant,  and  every  member  was  chosen  upon  the  is 
sues  involved  in  the  continuance  of  the  struggle. 
The  Thirty-Seventh  Congress  had,  indeed,  legis 
lated  to  a  large  extent  on  war  measures,  but  it 
was  chosen  before  anyone  believed  that  secession 
of  the  States  would  be  actually  attempted.  The 
magnitude  of  the  work  which  fell  upon  its  suc 
cessor  was  unprecedented,  both  in  respect  to  the 
vast  sums  of  money  raised  for  the  support  of  the 
army  and  navy,  and  of  the  new  and  extraordinary 
powers  of  legislation  which  it  was  forced  to  ex 
ercise.  Only  twenty-four  States  were  represented, 
and  one  hundred  and  eighty-two  members  were 
upon  its  roll.  Among  these  were  many  dis 
tinguished  party  leaders  on  both  sides,  veterans 
in  the  public  service,  with  established  reputations 
for  ability,  and  with  that  skill  which  comes  only 
from  parliamentary  experience.  Into  this  assem 
blage  of  men  Garfield  entered  without  special 
preparation,  and  it  might  almost  be  said  unex 
pectedly.  The  question  of  taking  command  of  a 
division  of  troops  under  General  Thomas,  or  tak 
ing  his  seat  in  Congress,  was  kept  open  till  the 
last  moment — so  late,  indeed,  that  the  resignation 


5  I  6  OUR  FORMER  PRESIDENTS. 

of  his  military  commission  and  his  appearance  in 
the  House  were  almost  contemporaneous.  He 
wore  the  uniform  of  a  Major-General  of  the 
United  States  Army  on  Saturday,  and  on  Monday, 
in  civilian's  dress,  he  answered  to  the  roll-call  as  a 
Representative  in  Congress  from  the  State  of 
Ohio. 

With  possibly  a  single  exception,  Garfield  was 
the  youngest  member  in  the  House  when  he  en 
tered,  and  was  but  seven  years  from  his  college 
graduation.  But  he  had  not  been  in  his  seat  sixty 
days  before  his  ability  was  recognized  and  his  place 
conceded.  He  stepped  to  the  front  with  the  confi 
dence  of  one  who  belonged  there.  The  House 
was  crowded  with  strong  men  of  both  parties ; 
nineteen  of  them  have  since  been  transferred  to 
the  Senate,  and  many  of  them  have  served  with 
distinction  in  the  gubernatorial  chairs  of  their  re 
spective  States,  and  on  foreign  missions  of  great 
consequence ;  but  among  them  all  none  grew  so 
rapidly,  none  so  firmly  as  Garfield.  As  is  said  by 
Trevelyan  of  his  parliamentary  hero,  Garfield  suc 
ceeded  "  because  all  the  world  in  concert  could 
not  have  kept  him  in  the  background,  and  because 
when  once  in  the  front  he  played  his  part  with  a 
prompt  intrepidity  and  a  commanding  ease  that 
were  but  the  outward  symptoms  of  the  immense 
reserves  of  energy  on  which  it  was  in  his  power 
to  draw."  Indeed,  the  apparently  reserved  force 
which  Garfield  possessed  was  one  of  his  great 


JAMES  A.   GARFIELD.  c  j  ~ 

characteristics.  He  never  did  so  well  but  that  it 
seemed  he  could  easily  have  done  better.  He 
never  expended  so  much  strength  but  that  he 
seemed  to  be  holding  additional  power  at  call. 
This  is  one  of  the  happiest  and  rarest  distinctions 
of  an  effective  debater,  and  often  counts  for  as 
much  in  persuading  an  assembly  as  the  eloquent 
and  elaborate  argument. 

The  great  measure  of  Garfield's  fame  was  filled 
by  his  service  in  the  House  of  Representatives. 
His  military  life,  illustrated  by  honorable  perform 
ance,  and  rich  in  promise,  was,  as  he  himself  felt, 
prematurely  terminated,  and  necessarily  incom 
plete.  Speculation  as  to  what  he  might  have  done 
in  a  field  where  the  great  prizes  are  so  few,  cannot 
be  profitable.  It  is  sufficient  to  say  that,  as  a  sol 
dier,  he  did  his  duty  bravely;  he  did  it  intelligently; 
he  won  an  enviable  fame,  and  he  retired  from  the 
service  without  blot  or  breath  against  him.  As  a 
lawyer,  though  admirably  equipped  for  the  pro 
fession,  he  can  scarcely  be  said  to  have  entered  on 
its  practice.  The  few  efforts  he  made  at  the  bar 
were  distinguished  by  the  same  high  order  of  talent 
which  he  exhibited  on  every  field  where  he  was 
put  to  the  test,  and  if  a  man  may  be  accepted  as  a 
competent  judge  of  his  own  capacities  and  adapta 
tions,  the  law  was  the  profession  to  which  Garfielcl 
should  have  devoted  himself.  But  fate  ordained 
otherwise,  and  his  reputation  in  history  will  rest 
largely  upon  his  service  in  the  House  of  Repre- 


OUR  FORMER  PRESIDENTS. 


sentatives,  to  a  place  in  which  he  was  chosen  for 
nine  consecutive  terms, 

Garfield's  nomination  to.  the  Presidency,  while 
not  predicted  or  anticipated,  was  not  a  surprise  to 
the  country.  His  prominence  in  Congress,  his 
solid  qualities,  his  wide  reputation,  strengthened 
by  his  then  recent  election  as  Senator  from  Ohio, 
kept  him  in  the  public  eye  as  a  man  occupying  the 
very  highest  rank  among  those  entitled  to  be 
called  statesmen.  It  was  not  mere  chance  that 
brought  him  this  high  honor.  "We  must,"  says 
Mr.  Emerson,  "  reckon  success  a  constitutional 
trait.  If  Eric  is  in  robust  health,  and  has  slept 
well,  and  is  at  the  top  of  his  condition,  and  thirty 
years  old  at  his  departure  from  Greenland,  he  will 
steer  west,  and  his  ships  will  reach  Newfoundland. 
But  take  Eric  out,  and  put  in  a  stronger  and  bolder 
man,  and  the  ships  will  sail  six  hundred,  one  thou 
sand,  fifteen  hundred  miles  farther,  and  reach  Lab 
rador  and  New  England.  There  is  no  chance  in 
results." 

As  a  candidate,  Garfield  steadily  grew  in  popu 
lar  favor.  He  was  met  with  a  storm  of  detraction 
at  the  very  hour  of  his  nomination,  and  it  con 
tinued  with  increasing  volume  and  momentum 
until  the  close  of  his  victorous  campaign: — 

"  No  might  nor  greatness  in  mortality 
Can  censure  'scape  ;  back-wounding  calumny 
The  whitest  virtue  strikes.     What  king  so  strong 
Can  tie  the  gall  up  in  the  slanderous  tongue  ?" 


JAMES  A.  GARFIELD. 


5*9 


Under  it  all  he  was  calm,  and  strong,  and  confi 
dent;  never  lost  his  self-possession,  did  no  unwise 
act,  spoke  no  hasty  or  ill-considered  word.  In 
deed,  nothing  in  his  whole  life  is  more  remark 
able  or  more  creditable  than  his  bearing  through 
those  five  full  months  of  vituperation — a  prolonged 
agony  of  trial  to  a  sensitive  man,  a  constant  and 
cruel  draft  upon  the  powers  of  moral  endurance. 
The  great  mass  of  these  unjust  imputations  passed 
unnoticed,  and  with  the  general  debris  of  the  cam 
paign  fell  into  oblivion.  But  in  a  few  instances 
the  iron  entered  his  soul,  and  he  died  with  the  in 
jury  unforgotten,  if  not  unforgiven. 

One  aspect  of  Garfield's  candidacy  was  unpre 
cedented.  Never  before,  in  the  history  of  partisan 
contests  in  this  country,  had  a  successful  Presiden 
tial  candidate  spoken  freely  on  passing  events  and 
current  issues.  To  attempt  anything  of  the  kind 
seemed  novel,  rash,  and  even  desperate.  The 
older  class  of  voters  recalled  the  unfortunate  Ala 
bama  letter,  in  which  Mr.  Clay  was  supposed  to 
have  signed  his  political  death  warrant.  They  re 
membered  also  the  hot-tempered  effusion  by 
which  General  Scott  lost  a  lar^e  share  of  his 

o 

popularity  before  his  nomination,  and  the  unfor 
tunate  speeches  which  rapidly  consumed  the  re 
mainder.  The  younger  voters  had  seen  Mr. 
Greeley  in  a  series  of  vigorous  and  original  ad 
dresses,  preparing  the  pathway  for  his  own  defeat. 
Unmindful  of  these  warnings,  unheeding  the  ad- 


520 


OUR  FORMER     PRESIDENTS. 


vice  of  friends,  Garfield  spoke  to  large  crowds  as 
he  journeyed  to  and  from  New  York  in  August, 
to  a  great  multitude  in  that  city,  to  delegations 
and  deputations  of  every  kind  that  called  at  Mentor 
during  the  summer  and  autumn.  With  innumer 
able  critics,  watchful  and  eager  to  catch  a  phrase 
that  might  be  turned  into  odium  or  ridicule,  or  a 
sentence  that  might  be  distorted  to  his  own  or 
his  party's  injury,  Garfield  did  not  trip  or  halt  in 
any  one  of  his  seventy  speeches.  This  seems  all 
the  more  remarkable  when  it  is  remembered  that 
he  did  not  write  what  he  said,  and  yet  spoke  with 
such  logical  consecutiveness  of  thought,  and  such 
admirable  precision  of  phrase  as  to  defy  the  acci 
dent  of  misreport,  and  the  malignity  of  misrepre 
sentation. 

In  4the  beginning  of  his  Presidential  life,  Gar- 
field's  experience  did  not  yield  him  pleasure  or 
satisfaction.  The  duties  that  engross  so  large  a 
portion  of  the  President's  time  were  distasteful  to 
him,  and  were  unfavorably  contrasted  with  his 
legislative  work.  "  I  have  been  dealing  all  these 
years  with  ideas,"  he  impatiently  exclaimed  one  day, 
"  and  here  I  am  dealing  only  with  persons.  I  have 
been  heretofore  treating  of  the  fundamental  prin 
ciples  of  government,  and  here  I  am  considering 
all  day  whether  A  or  B  shall  be  appointed  to  this 
or  that  office."  He  was  earnestly  seeking  some 
practical  way  of  correcting  the  evils  arising  from 
the  distribution  of  overgrown  and  unwieldy  pat- 


JAMES  A.   GARFIELD.  c  2  j 

ronage — evils  always  appreciated  and  often  dis 
cussed  by  him,  but  whose  magnitude  had  been  more 
deeply  impressed  upon  his  mind  since  his  acces 
sion  to  the  Presidency.  Had  he  lived,  a  compre 
hensive  improvement  in  the  mode  of  appointments 
would  have  been  proposed  by  him. 

Garfield's  ambition  for  the  success  of  his  ad 
ministration  was  high.  With  strong  caution  and 
conservatism  in  his  nature,  he  was  in  no  danger 
of  attempting  rash  experiments  or  of  resorting  to 
the  empiricism  of  statesmanship.  But  he  believed 
that  renewed  and  closer  attention  should  be  given 
to  questions  affecting  the  material  interests  and 
commercial  prospects  of  fifty  millions  of  people. 
He  believed  that  our  continental  relations,  exten 
sive  and  undeveloped  as  they  are,  involved  re 
sponsibility,  and  could  be  cultivated  into  profitable 
friendship  or  be  abandoned  to  harmless  indiffer 
ence  or  lasting  enmity.  He  believed  with  equal 
confidence  that  an  essential  forerunner  to  a  new 
era  of  national  progress  must  be  a  feeling  of  con 
tentment  in  every  section  of  the  Union,  and  a 
generous  belief  that '  the  benefits  and  burdens  of 
government  would  be  common  to  all.  Himself  a 
conspicuous  illustration  of  what  ability  and  am 
bition  may  do  under  republican  institutions,  he 
loved  his  country  with  a  passion  of  patriotic  de 
votion,  and  every  waking  thought  was  given  to 
her  advancement.  He  was  an  American  in  all 
his  aspirations,  and  he  looked  to  the  destiny  and 


-22  OUR  FORMER  PRESIDENTS. 

0 

influence  of  the  United  States  with  the  philosophic 
composure  of  Jefferson  and  the  demonstrative 
confidence  of  John  Adams. 

The  religious  element  in  Garfield's  character 
was  deep  and  earnest.  In  his  early  youth,  he 
espoused  the  faith  of  the  Disciples,  a  sect  of  that 
great  Baptist  Communion,  which,  in  different 
ecclesiastical  establishments,  is  so  numerous  and 
so  influential  throughout  all  parts  of  the  United 
States.  But  the  broadening  tendency  of  his  mind 
and  his  active  spirit  of  inquiry  were  early  appar 
ent  and  carried  him  beyond  the  dogmas  of  sect 
and  the  restraints  of  association.  In  selecting  a 
college  in  which  to  continue  his  education  he 
rejected  Bethany,  though  presided  over  by  Alex 
ander  Campbell,  the  greatest  preacher  of  his 
Church.  His  reasons  were  characteristic :  first? 
that  Bethany  leaned  too  heavily  towards  slavery ; 
and,  second,  that  being  himself  a  Disciple  and  the 
son  of  Disciple  parents,  he  had  little  acquaintance 
with  people  of  other  beliefs,  and  he  thought  it 
would  make  him  more  liberal,  quoting  his  own 
words,  both  in  his  religious  and  general  views,  to 
go  into  a  new  circle  and  be  under  new  influences. 

The  liberal  tendency  which  he  anticipated  as  the 
result  of  wider  culture  was  fully  realized.  He 
was  emancipated  from  mere  sectarian  belief,  and 
with  eager  interest  pushed  his  investigations  in 
the  direction  of  modern  progressive  thought.  He 
followed  with  quickening  step  into  the  paths  of 


JAMES  A.  GARFIELD. 

exploration  and  speculation  so  fearlessly  trodden 
by  Darwin,  by  Huxley,  by  Tyndall,  and  by  other 
living  scientists  of  the  radical  and  advanced  type. 
His  own  Church,  binding  its  disciples  by  no  for 
mulated  creed,  but  accepting  the  Old  and  New 
Testaments  as  the  word  of  God,  with  unbiased 
liberty  of  private  interpretation,  favored,  if  it  did 
not  stimulate,  the  spirit  of  investigation.  Its  mem 
bers  profess  with  sincerity,  and  profess  only,  to  be 
of  one  mind  and  of  one  faith  with  those  who  im 
mediately  followed  the  Master,  and  who  were  first 
called  Christians  at  Antioch. 

But  however  high  Garfield  reasoned  of  " fixed 
fate,  free  will,  foreknowledge  absolute,"  he  was 
never  separated  from  the  Church  of  the  Disciples 
in  his  affections  and  in  his  associations.  For  him 
it  held  the  ark  of  the  covenant.  To  him  it  was 
the  gate  of  Heaven.  The  world  of  religious  belief  is 
full  of  solecisms  and  contradictions.  A  philoso 
phic  observer  declares  that  men  by  the  thousand 
will  die  in  defense  of  a  creed  whose  doctrines 
they  do  not  comprehend  and  whose  tenets  they 
habitually  violate.  It  is  equally  true  that  men  by 
the  thousand  will  cling  to  Church  organizations 
with  instinctive  and  undying  fidelity  when  their 
belief  in  maturer  years  is  radically  different  from 
that  which  inspired  them  as  neophytes. 

But  after  this  range  of  speculation,  and  this 
latitude  of  doubt,  Garfield  came  back  always  with 
freshness  and  delight  to  the  simpler  instincts  of 


524 


OVR  FORMER  PRESIDENTS. 


religious  faith,  which,  earliest  implanted,  longest 
survive.  Not  many  weeks  before  his  assassina 
tion,  walking  on  the  banks  of  the  Potomac  with  a 
friend,  and  conversing  on  those  topics  of  personal 
religion  concerning  which  noble  natures  have  an 
unconquerable  reserve,  he  said  that  he  found  the 
Lord's  Prayer  and  the  simple  petitions  learned  in 
infancy  infinitely  restful  to  him,  not  merely  in  their 
stated  repetition,  but  in  their  casual  and  frequent 
recall  as  he  went  about  the  daily  duties  of  life. 
Certain  texts  of  Scripture  had  a  very  strong  hold 
on  his  memory  and  his  heart.  He  heard,  while  in 
Edinburgh  some  years  aofo.  an  eminent  Scotch 

o  J  o     ' 

preacher  who  prefaced  his  sermon  with  reading 
the  eighth  chapter  of  the  Epistle  to  the  Romans, 
which  book  had  been  the  subject  of  careful  study 
with  Garfield  during  all  his  religious  life.  He  was 
greatly  impressed  by  the  elocution  of  the  preacher 
and  declared  that  it  had  imparted  a  new  and 
deeper  meaning  to  the  majestic  utterances  of 
St.  Paul.  He  referred  often  in  after  years  to 
that  memorable  service,  and  dwelt  with  exaltation 
of  feeling  upon  the  radiant  promise  and  the  as 
sured  hope  with  which  the  great  Apostle  of  the 
Gentiles  was  "persuaded  that  neither  death,  nor 
life,  nor  angels,  nor  principalities,  nor  powers,  nor 
things  present,  nor  things  to  come,  nor  height, 
nor  depth,  nor  any  other  creature,  shall  be  able 
to  separate  us  from  the  love  of  God,  which 
is  in  Christ  Jesus  our  Lord." 


A.   GARFIELD. 


525 


The   crowning  characteristic  of  General   Gar- 

o 

field's  religious  opinions,  as,  indeed,  of  all  his  opin 
ions,  was  his  liberality.  In  all  things  he  had  char 
ity.  Tolerance  was  of  his  nature.  He  respected 
in  others  the  qualities  which  he  possessed  himself, 
sincerity  of  conviction  and  frankness  of  expres 
sion.  With  him  the  inquiry  was  not  so  much  what 
a  man  believes,  but  does  he  believe  it  ?  The  lines 
of  his  friendship  and  his  confidence  encircled  men 
of  every  creed,  and  men  of  no  creed,  and  to  the 
end  of  his  life,  on  his  ever-lengthening  list  of 
friends,  were  to  be  found  the  names  of  a  pious 
Catholic  priest  and  of  an  honest-minded  and  gen 
erous-hearted  free-thinker. 

On  the  morning  of  Saturday,  July  2d,  the  Presi 
dent  was  a  contented  and  happy  man — not  in  an 
ordinary  degree,  but  joyfully,  almost  boyishly 
happy.  On  his  way  to  the  railroad  station,  to 
which  he  drove  slowly,  in  conscious  enjoyment  of 
the  beautiful  morning,  with  an  unwonted  sense  of 
leisure  and  a  keen  anticipation  of  pleasure,  his 
talk  was  all  in  the  grateful  and  gratulatory  vein. 
He  felt  that  after  four  months  of  trial  his  adminis 
tration  was  strong  in  its  grasp  of  affairs,  strong  in 
popular  favor,  and  destined  to  grow  stronger; 
that  grave  difficulties  confronting  him  at  his  in 
auguration  had  been  safely  passed ;  that  trouble 
lay  behind  him  and  not  before  him ;  that  he  was 
soon  to  meet  the  wife  whom  he  loved,  now  recov 
ering  from  an  illness  which  had  but  lately  disqui- 


526  MA  FORMER  PRESIDENTS. 

eted  and  at  times  almost  unnerved  him  ;  that  he 
was  going  to  his  Alma  Mater  to  renew  the  most 
cherished  associations  of  his  young  manhood,  and 
to  exchange  greetings  with  those  whose  deepen 
ing  interest  had  followed  every  step  of  his  upward 
progress  from  the  day  he  entered  upon  his  college 
course  until  he  had  attained  the  loftiest  elevation 
in  the  gift  of  his  countrymen. 

Surely,  if  happiness  can  ever  come  from  the 
honors  or  triumphs  of  this  world,  on  that  quiet 
July  morning  James  A.  Garfield  may  well  have 
been  a  happy  man.  No  foreboding  of  evil  haunted 
him ;  no  slightest  premonition  of  danger  clouded 
his  sky.  His  terrible  fate  was  upon  him  in  an 
instant.  One  moment  he  stood  erect,  strong,  con 
fident  in  the  years  stretching  peacefully  out  before 
him  ;  the  next  he  lay  wounded,  bleeding,  helpless, 
doomed  to  weary  weeks  of  torture,  to  silence,  and 
the  grave. 

Great  in  life,  he  was  surpassingly  great  in  death. 
For  no  cause,  in  the  very  frenzy  of  wantonness 
and  wickedness,  by  the  red  hand  of  murder,  he 
was  thrust  from  the  full  tide  of  this  world's  interest, 
from  its  hopes,  its  aspirations,  its  victories,  into  the 
visible  presence  of  death — and  he  did  not  quail. 
Not  alone  for  the  one  short  moment  in  which, 
stunned  and  dazed,  he  could  give  up  life,  hardly 
aware  of  its  relinquishment,  but  through  days  of 
deadly  languor,  through  weeks  of  agony,  that  was 
not  less  agony  because  silently  borne,  with  clear 


JAMES  A.   GARFIELD. 


sight  and  calm  courage,  he  looked  into  his  open 
grave.  What  blight  and  ruin  met  his  anguished 
eyes,  whose  lips  may  tell  ?  —  what  brilliant,  broken 
plans  ;  what  baffled,  high  ambitions  ;  what  sunder 
ing  of  strong,  warm,  manhood's  friendships;  what 
bitter  rending  of  sweet  household  ties  !  Behind 
him  a  proud,  expectant  nation,  a  great  host  of  sus 
taining  friends,  a  cherished  and  happy  mother, 
wearing  the  full,  rich  honors  of  her  early  toil  and 
tears  ;  the  wife  of  his  youth,  whose  whole  life  lay 
in  his  ;  the  little  boys  not  yet  emerged  from 
childhood's  days  of  frolic  ;  the  fair  young  daughter  ; 
the  sturdy  sons  just  springing  into  closest  com 
panionship,  claiming  every  day  and  every  day 
rewarding  a  father's  love  and  care  ;  and  in  his 
heart  the  eager,  rejoicing  power  to  meet  all 
demands.  Before  him,  desolation  and  great  dark 
ness  !  And  his  soul  was  not  shaken.  His  coun 
trymen  were  thrilled  with  instant,  profound,  and 
universal  sympathy.  Masterful  in  his  mortal 
weakness,  he  became  the  centre  of  a  nation's  love, 
enshrined  in  the  prayers  of  a  world.  But  all  the 
love  and  all  the  sympathy  could  not  share  with 
him  his  suffering.  He  trod  the  wine-press  alone. 
With  unfaltering  front  he  faced  death.  With 
unfailing  tenderness  he  took  leave  of  life.  Above 
the  demoniac  hiss  of  the  assassin's  bullet  he  heard 
the  voice  of  God.  With  simple  resignation  he 
bowed  to  the  Divine  decree. 

As  the  end  drew  near,  his  early  craving  for  the 


528 


OUR  FORMER  PRESIDENTS. 


sea  returned.  The  stately  mansion  of  power  had 
been  to  him  the  wearisome  hospital  of  pain,  and 
he  begged  to  be  taken  from  its  prison  walls,  from 
its  oppressive,  stifling  air,  from  its  homelessness 
and  its  hopelessness.  Gently,  silently,  the  love  of 
a  great  people  bore  the  pale  sufferer  to  the  longed- 
for  healing  of  the  sea,  to  live  or  to  die,  as  God 
should  will,  within  sight  of  its  heaving  billows, 
within  sound  of  its  manifold  voices.  With  wan, 
fevered  face  tenderly  lifted  to  the  cooling  breeze, 
he  looked  out  wistfully  upon  the  ocean's  changing 
wonders ;  on  its  far  sails,  whitening  in  the  morn 
ing  light ;  on  its  restless  waves,  rolling  shoreward 
to  break  and  die  beneath  the  noonday  sun  ;  on  the 
red  clouds  of  evening,  arching  low  in  the  horizon  ; 
on  the  serene  and  shining  pathway  of  the  stars. 
Let  us  think  that  his  dying  eyes  read  a  mystic  mean 
ing  which  only  the  rapt  and  parting  soul  may  know. 
Let  us  believe  that  in  the  silence  of  the  receding 
world  he  heard  the  great  waves  breaking  on  a 
farther  shore,  and  felt  already  upon  his  wasted 
brow  the  breath  of  the  eternal  morning. 

After  extended  and  most  impressive  funeral 
obsequies,  President  Garfield's  mortal  remains 
were  laid  to  rest  in  Lake  View  Cemetery  in  the 
fair  City  of  Cleveland,  Ohio,  on  Monday,  Sep 
tember  26th,  1881.,  and  thus  a  new  shrine  was 
reared  to  which  the  patriotic  hearts  of  America 
will  never  cease  to  turn  with  profound  interest 


CHESTER  A.  ARTHUR.  ~  2g 

CHESTER  A.  ARTHUR. 

THE  exodus  from  foreign  lands  to  this  coun 
try  has  at  all  times  since  the  early  years 
of  the  present  century  been  remarkable 
for  its  steadiness — though  varying  during  the  de 
cades.  A  home  in  freedom  and  a  chance  for  a 
fortune  in  climes  where  centuries  have  not  bound 
with  iron  every  man's  position  is  always  an  incen 
tive  to  brave  spirits. 

Among  those  who  took  the  tide  in  its  flow,  at 
the  beginning  of  the  twenties,  was  a  young  Pro 
testant  Irishman  from  Ballymena,  County  Antrim, 
who  bore  the  name  of  William  Arthur.  He  was 
eighteen  years  of  age,  a  graduate  of  Belfast  Col 
lege,  and  thoroughly  imbued  with  the  intention  of 
becoming  a  Baptist  clergyman.  In  this  he  perse 
vered,  was  admitted  to  the  ministry,  took  a  degree 
of  D.D.,  and  followed  a  career  of  great  usefulness, 
which  did  not  terminate  until  he  died,  at  Newton- 
ville,  near  Albany,  October  27th,  1875.  He  was 
in  many  respects  a  remarkable  man.  He  acquired 
a  wide  fame  in  his  chosen  career,  and  entered  suc 
cessfully  the  great  competition  of  authors.  He 
published  a  work  on  Family  Names  that  is  to 
day  regarded  as  one  of  the  curiosities  of  English 
erudite  literature. 

He  married,  not  long  after  entering  the  minis 
try,  an  American,  Malvina  Stone,  who  bore  him 


OUR  FORMER  PRESIDENTS. 

a  family  of  two  sons  and  five  daughters.  Of 
these,  Chester  Allan,  the  subject  of  this  sketch, 
was  born  at  Fairfield,  Franklin  County,  Vermont, 
October  5th,  1830.  From  his  home  studies  he 
went  to  a  wider  field  of  instruction  in  the  insti 
tutions  of  Schenectady,  in  the  grammar  school  of 
which  place  he  was  prepared  for  entering  Union 
College.  This  he  did  at  the  age  of  fifteen  ([845), 
and  took  successfully  the  regular  course,  excelling 
in  all  his  studies  and  graduating  very  high  in  the 
class  of  1848. 

On  graduating  he  entered  the  law  school  at  Ball- 
ston  Springs.  By  rigid  economy  and  hard  work,  he 
had  managed  to  save  five  hundred  dollars,  and  with 
this  in  his  pocket  he  went  to  New  York,  and  entered 
the  law  office  of  Erastus  D.  Culver,  afterward  minis 
ter  to  one  of  the  South  American  States  and  a  judge 
of  the  Civil  Court  of  Brooklyn.  Soon  after  entering 
Judge  Culver's  office,  he  was — in  1852 — admitted 
to  the  bar,  and  formed  the  firm  of  Culver,  Partsen 
&  Arthur,  which  was  dissolved  in  1 837.  No  sooner 
had  he  won  his  title  to  appear  in  the  courts,  than 
he  formed  a  partnership  with  an  old  friend,  Henry 
D.  Gardner,  with  an  intention  of  practicing  in  the 
West,  and  for  three  months  these  young  gentle 
men  roamed  through  the  Western  States  in  search 
of  a  place  to  locate.  In  the  end,  not  satisfied,  they 
returned  to  New  York  and  began  practice. 

The  law  career  of  Mr.  Arthur  includes  some 
notable  cases.  One  of  his  first  cases  was  the  cele- 


CHESTER  A.   ARTHUR. 

brated  Lemmon  suit.  In  1852,  Jonathan  and  Juliet 
Lemmon,  Virginia  slaveholders,  intending  to  emi 
grate  to  Texas,  went  to  New  York  to  await  the 
sailing  of  a  steamer,  bringing  eight  slaves  with 
them.  A  writ  of  habeas  corpus  was  obtained  from 
Judge  Paine  to  test  the  question  whether  the 
provisions  of  the  Fugitive  Slave  Law  were  in  force 
in  that  State.  Judge  Paine  rendered  a  decision 
holding  that  they  were  not,  and  ordering  the  Lem 
mon  slaves  to  be  liberated.  Henry  L.  Clinton 
was  one  of  the  counsel  for  the  slaveholders.  A 
howl  of  rage  went  up  from  the  South,  and  the 
Virginia  Legislature  authorized  the  Attorney- 
General  of  that  State  to  assist  in  taking  an  appeal. 
William  M.  Evarts  and  Chester  A.  Arthur  were 
employed  to  represent  the  people,  and  they  won 
their  case,  which  then  went  to  the  Supreme  Court 
of  the  United  States.  Charles  O'Conor  here 
espoused  the  cause  of  the  slaveholders,  but  he, 
too,  was  beaten  by  Messrs.  Evarts  and  Arthur, 
and  a  long  step  was  thus  taken  toward  the 
emancipation  of  the  black  race. 

Mr.  Arthur  always  took  an  interest  in  politics 
and  the  political  surroundings  of  his  day.  His 
political  life  began  at  the  age  of  fourteen,  as  a 
champion  of  the  Whig  party.  He  shared,  too,  in 
the  turbulence  of  political  life  at  that  period,  and 
it  is  related  of  him  during  the  Polk-Clay  canvass 
that,  while  he  and  some  of  his  companions  were 
raising  an  ash  pole  in  honor  of  Henry  Clay,  some 


OUR  FORMER  PRESIDENTS. 

Democratic  boys  attacked  the  party  of  Whigs, 
and  young  Arthur,  who  was  the  recognized  leader 
of  the  party,  ordered  a  charge,  and,  taking  the 
front  ranks  himself,  drove  the  young  Democrats 
from  the  field  with  broken  heads  and  subdued 
spirits.  He  was  a  delegate  to  the  Saratoga  Con 
vention  that  founded  the  Republican  party  in  New 
York  State.  He  was  active  in  local  politics,  and 
he  gradually . became  one  of  the  leaders.  He 
nominated,  and  by  his  efforts  elected,  the  Hon. 
Thomas  Murphy  a  State  Senator.  When  the 
latter  resigned  the  Collectorship  of  the  Port,  in 
November,  1871,  Arthur  was  appointed  by  Presi 
dent  Grant  to  fill  the  vacancy. 

He  was  nominated  for  the  Vice-Presidency  at 
Chicago  on  the  evening  of  Tuesday,  June  loth. 
He  was  heartily  indorsed  by  the  popular  and 
electoral  vote,  and  on  the  death  of  President 
Garfield,  September  i9th,  1881,  he  assumed  the 
Presidential  chair.  His  Administration  has  been 
an  uneventful  one,  attended  with  general  peace 
and  prosperity. 


LIFE 


OF 


JOHN  ALEXANDER  LOGAN, 


NOMINEE 


FOR  THE 


VICE-PRESIDENCY  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES, 


"  This  Government  must  be  preserved  for  future  gene 
rations  in  the  same  mold  in  which  it  was  transmitted  to 
us,  if  it  takes  the  last  man  and  the  last  dollar  of  the 
present  generation  within  its  borders  to  accomplish  it." 
General  John  A.  Logan,  1862. 


/•'' 

c  __ 


CHAPTER  I. 

THE  BOY — THE  STUDENT — THE  SOLDIER. 

JOHN  ALEXANDER  LOGAN  was  the  son 
of  Dr.  John  Logan,  a  native  of  Ireland,  who 
when  a  young  man  sought  a  home  in  the 
United  States.  He  first  settled  at  Ellicott's  Mills, 
in  Maryland,  but  soon  removed  thence  into  Ken 
tucky,  and  from  there  to  Missouri,  where  he  mar 
ried  Miss  Laramie.  She  died  a  few  years  after 
ward,  leaving  a  daughter,  and  the  bereaved 
widower  again  removed,  settling  on  a  tract  of  land 
in  the  fertile  county  of  Jackson,  in  Illinois.  Al 
though  there  had  been  some  old  settlements  in 

o 

that  region,  it  was  only  then  filling  up  with  adven 
turous  pioneers,  and  the  young  physician  com 
menced  practice  among  them,  enjoying  the  privi 
lege  of  witnessing  the  constantly  advancing 
prosperity  and  power  of  his  adopted  State. 

Soon  after  settling  on  his  farm,  Dr.  Logan 
married  Miss  Elizabeth  Jenkins,  a  native  of  Ten 
nessee,  whose  family  came  originally  from  South 
Carolina.  She  was  a  lady  of  rare  worth,  great 
industry,  unusual  strength  of  judgment,  and  in 
domitable  energy.  When  the  town  of  Murphys- 
boro'  was  laid  out,  partly  on  Dr.  Logan's  land,  he 
built  a  brick  hotel  there,  which  was  managed  to  a 

537 


538         GENERAL  JOHN  A.  LOGAN. 

great  extent  by  his  wife.  He  was  naturally  a 
Democrat,  and  the  poor  laborer,  in  his  shirt 
sleeves,  would  find,  accommodations  at  his  house 
and  be  seated  at  the  table  with  the  judges  and 
the  lawyers  riding  a  circuit.  The  doctor  had  a 
large  circle  of  patients,  some  of  whom  would  come 
from  long  distances  to  consult  him,  and  he  was 
regarded  as  an  unusually  skillful  and  successful 
practitioner  of  the  healing  art.  He  also  became 
a  large  stock  raiser,  and  was  always  fond  of  a 
good  horse.  In  the  development  of  the  neighbor 
ing  coal  mines,  the  establishment  of  the  Illinois 
Central  Railroad,  and  other  public  works,  he  was 
always  consulted,  and  his  opinions  had  great 
weight.  He  was  elected  by  the  Democrats  to 
represent  his  locality  in  the  State  Legislature,  and 
he  held  other  trusts.  His  spotless  integrity,  his 
professional  skill,  and  his  bluff  yet  genial  manners 
made  him  persorially  popular.  He  died  in  1855, 
generally  beloved  and  respected. 

John  Alexander  Logan,  the  oldest  son  of  John 
and  Elizabeth  Jenkins  Logan,  was  born  on  the  gth 
of  February,  1826.  He  was  raised  at  the  rural 
home  of  his  parents,  and  inured  to  the  hardy  pur 
suits  of  country  life,  which  developed  his  physical 
strength  and  power  of  endurance.  He  did  not, 
however,  altogether  like  the  restraints  of  farm 
labor,  but  it  developed  in  him  patience,  industry, 
a  stout  heart,  and  self-reliance.  On  one  occasion, 
when  he  was  a  small  lad,  his  father  found  that 


THE  BOY—  THE  S  TUDENT—  THE  SOLD  IE  R.       r  <j  g 

the  squirrels  were  carrying  off  the  corn  ripening 
in  a  field  which  was  bordered  by  a  piece  of  woods. 
Young  Logan  was  sent  to  watch  the  chattering 
thieves  until  his  father  could  find  time  to  come  and 
shoot  them.  After  remaining  on  guard  a  few 
hours,  the  boy  found  it  rather  monotonous,  and 
taking  a  piece  of  paper  and  pencil  from  his  pocket 
he  wrote  a  note  addressed  to  the  squirrels,  in 
forming  them  that  if  they  did  not  keep  away  from 
that  corn-field  they  would  be  shot.  Fastening 
this  proclamation  to  the  fence,  he  joined  his  play 
mates. 

The  public  schools  of  the  vicinage,  which  young 
Logan  attended,  afforded  only  limited  educational 
advantages,  but  Dr.  Logan  was  fortunate  enough 
to  secure  the  services  of  a  Mr.  Lynch  as  tutor,  and 
to  thus  give  his  children,  under  the  parental  roof, 
a  thorough  English  education  and  the  rudiments 
of  the  classical  studies.  These  John  perfected  in 
1840,  when  he  attended  Shiloh  College.  His  re 
markably  tenacious  memory  enabled  him  to  retain 
all  that  he  learned. 

While  he.  was  a  lad  political  excitement  ran  high, 
and  he  eagerly  read  all  the  newspapers  which 
came  in  his  way,  naturally  espousing  the  Demo 
cratic  views  entertained  by  his  father.  He  was 
fond  of  music,  and  occasionally  performed  on  the 
violin,  but  his  great  delight  was  to  discuss  the 
leading  topics  of  the  day  with  the  young  men  of 
the  vicinity.  He  was  a  daring  rider,  a  good  shot, 


54O          GENERAL  JOHN  A.  LOGAN.   - 

and  the  foremost  to  undertake  any  difficult  or 
dangerous  exploit.  When  a  mere  lad,  some  of  his 
neighbors  had  built  a  flat-boat  on  the  bank  of  a 
little  stream,  intending  to  float  it  down  to  the  Mis 
sissippi  when  the  spring  floods  came.  It  happened, 
however,  that  the  water  rose  unusually  high,  and 
the  owners  of  the  flat-boat  were  afraid  to  pilot  it 
through  the  eddies  and  the  fallen  timber.  In  this 
emergency  young  Logan  volunteered  to  take  com 
mand,  and,  with  his  usual  resolution  and  fixed  pur 
pose,  he  piloted  the  flat-boat  through  all  the 
dangers  of  the  river  navigation  into  the  broad 
Mississippi. 

When  war  with  Mexico  was  declared,  young 
Logan,  with  that  decision  and  spirit  which  had  al 
ways  characterized  him,  volunteered.  He  enlisted 
as  a  private  and  was  chosen  second  lieutenant  in 
Captain  James  Hampton's  company  of  the  first 
Illinois  regiment  which  enlisted  for  the  war,  and 
which  was  commanded  by  Colonel  Edward  B. 
Newby. 

The  regiment  was  ordered  to  New  Mexico,  and 
as  there  were  no  railroads  in  those  days  in  that 
region,  the  march  there  was  long  and  fatiguing. 
But  after  having  crossed  the  uninhabited  and  un 
inhabitable  desert,  the  column  reached  a  more 
interesting  region.  The  magnificent  mountain 
scenery,  the  fertile  valleys,  the  healing  springs,  the 
descendants  of  the  Spanish  conquerors  in  their  pic 
turesque  costumes,  the  docile  peons,  and  the  wild 


THE  BOY— THE  STUDENT— THE  SOLDIER. 


541 


Apache  Indians,  all  made  a  powerful  impression 
upon  young  Logan.  But  his  military  duties  left 
him  little  time  for  observation.  He  had  been  de 
tailed  as  quartermaster  of  his  regiment,  and  it 
was  no  easy  task  to  procure  the  necessary  sup 
plies,  and  on  issuing  them  to  secure  the  proper 
vouchers  and  receipts.  But  when  the  war  was 
over,  and  the  regiment  returned  home  by  the  way 
of  Fort  Leavenworth,  Quartermaster  Logan's  ac 
counts  were  all  found  to  be  in  perfect  order.  Sub 
sequently  they  passed  the  careful  scrutiny  of  the 
auditing  officials  at  the  Treasury  Department, 
where  they  are  now  on  file,  balanced  to  a  cent 


CHAPTER  II. 

THE  STUDENT — THE  LAWYER — THE  LEGISLATOR. 

RETURNING  home  in  October,  1848,  young 
Logan  commenced  the  study  of  law  in 
the  office  of  his  uncle,  Alexander  M.  Jen 
kins,  formerly  Lieutenant-Governor  of  Illinois. 
Robust  and  weather-bronzed,  the  young  veteran 
of  New  Mexico  was  the  hero  of  his  neighbor 
hood,  and  he  soon  took  the  lead  among  the  young 
men  in  their  sports,  while  he  entertained  them 
with  his  reminiscences  of  army  life  and  with 
many  good  stories  which  he  had  heard  at  the 
camp  fires.  His  manner  was  dramatic,  his  com 
mand  of  his  features  was  wonderful,  and  his  voice 
was  exquisitely  modulated. 

Soon  after  young  Logan's  return  home,  several 
valuable  horses  were  stolen  from  the  neighbor 
hood  by  a  member  of  an  organized  band  of 
thieves  who  had  come  over  from  Missouri,  where 
his  comrades  had  hiding-places  almost  inaccessi 
ble  in  the  swamps.  As  these  marauders  were 
desperate  characters  and  always  went  armed, 
there  was  some  hesitation  about  following  the 
thief,  but  young  Logan,  taking  two  young  men 
with  him,  started  in  pursuit.  The  second  day 
542 


THE  STUDENT— LAWYER— LEGISLATOR.         CA>> 

afterward  the  pursuers  returned,  bringing  the 
horses  which  had  been  stolen,  but  no  one  ever 
knew  what  had  become  of  the  thief. 

In  November,  1849,  ne  was  elected  county 
clerk  of  Jackson  County,  and  held  the  office  a 
year,  during  which  time,  while  discharging  his 
duties  in  the  most  creditable  manner,  he  pursued 
his  legal  studies.  He  also  attended  a  course  of 
law  lectures  at  the  University  of  Louisville,  Ken 
tucky,  which  was  then  regarded  as  the  foremost 
institution  of  legal  learning  west  of  the  Allegheny 
Mountains.  Applying  himself  with  his  wonted 
industry  and  perseverance,  he  received  his  di 
ploma  in  1851.  Admitted  to  the  practice  of  the  law, 
Mr.  Logan  entered  into  partnership  with  his  uncle. 
Governor  Jenkins  was  a  legal  bookworm,  and 
would  hunt  up  all  the  authorities  bearing  upon 
their  clients'  cases,  which  his  young  partner  would 
use  in  the  trial,  examining  the  witnesses,  and  ad 
dressing  the  jury  in  his  forcible  and  convincing 
style  of  oratory.  His  practical  mind,  vigorous 
intellect,  popular  manners,  and  rare  abilities  as  a 
public  speaker  won  him  a  foremost  place  in  pub 
lic  esteem,  and  in  1852  he  was  elected  Prosecut 
ing  Attorney  of  the  then  Third  Judicial  Circuit  of 
Illinois. 

In  1852,  Mr.  Logan  removed  to  the  town  of 
Benton,  where  he  continued  his  law  practice,  and 
very  largely  increased  his  circle  of  personal  and 
political  friends.  At  the  fall  election  of  1851,  he 


544 


GENERAL  JOHN  A.  LOGAN. 


was  elected  to  represent  Jackson  and  Benton 
Counties  in  the  Illinois  State  Legislature.  He 
entered  at  once  upon  a  successful  legislative 
career,  and  was  recognized  as  a  young  man  of 
unusual  promise,  alike  formidable  as  a  foe  and 
valuable  as  a  friend.  Candid  in  his  presentation 
of  facts,  logical  in  his  mode  of  reasoning,  and 
skillful  in  arousing  emotion,  he  had  few  superiors 
as  a  popular  speaker.  Shaking  off  the  trammels 
of  routine,  he  was  progressive  and  aggressive  in 
opposing  monopolies  and  in  widening  the  paths 
of  industry.  Politically,  he  was  an  uncompromis 
ing  Democrat,  always  voting  with  his  party. 

He  was  married  on  the  2;th  of  November, 
1855,  at  Shawneetown,  to  Miss  MaryS.  Cunning 
ham,  daughter  of  John  W.  Cunningham,  formerly 
Register  of  the  United  States  Land  Office  at  that 

o 

place.  She  is  the  great-granddaughter  of  Rob 
ert  Cunningham,  an  Irish  immigrant  to  Virginia, 
who  fought  for  his  adopted  country  in  the  Revo 
lutionary  War,  after  which  he  removed  to  Tennes 
see,  thence  to  Alabama,  and  thence  to  Illinois,  at 
that  time  a  territory,  where  he  emancipated  several 
slaves  which  he  had  previously  acquired.  Her 
father,  Captain  John  M.  Cunningham,  served  in 
the  Black  Hawk  Indian  War,  and  also  in  the  war 
with  Mexico,  and  was  a  member  of  the  Legislature 
of  Illinois  in  1845  an<^  1846.  Her  mother  was 
Miss  Elizabeth  Fontaine,  one  of  a  family  of  French 
immigrants  to  Louisiana  when  under  the  rule  of 


THE  STUDENT— LAWYER— LEGISLATOR.         CAZ 

France,  but  which  had  afterward  ascended  the 
Mississippi  and  located  in  Missouri,  settling  at 
Petersburg  in  Boone  County.  The^e  she  was 
married  to  John  M.  Cunningham,  and  their  oldest 
child,  Mary  Simmerson,  was  born  on  the  I5th  of 
August,  1838.  When  she  was  but  a  year  old,  her 
parents  crossed  the  Mississippi  and  settled  at 
Marion,  in  Williamson  County,  Illinois,  where  she 
was  reared  amid  the  hardships  and  dangers  of 
frontier  life.  When  Captain  Cunningham  went  to 
meet  the  hostile  Indians  in  the  northern  part  of 
his  own  State,  and  later  to  fight  the  battles  of  his 
country  in  the  land  of  the  Montezurnas,  his  brave 
and  dutiful  little  daughter  relieved  her  mother  all 
in  her  power  in  household  duties,  and  stood  by 
her  nobly  when  the  father  again  left  home  to  seek 
a  fortune  in  the  golden  streams  of  California.  On 
his  return  he  found  that  his  daughter,  though  aid 
ing  her  mother  so  largely,  had  acquired  the  rudi 
ments  of  a  good  education,  and  he  sent  her  to  the 
Convent  of  St.  Vincent,  near  Morganfield,  Ken 
tucky,  which  was  the  best  and  almost  the  only 
educational  institution  for  young  ladies  in  that 
region.  Having  been  reared  in  the  Baptist  Church, 
she  did  not  fancy  the  religious  services  of  the  Sis 
ters,  but  nevertheless,  she  became  a  great  favorite 
with  them. 

Graduating  in  1855,  Miss  Cunningham  returned 
to  her  father's  home  at  Shawneetown,  where,  in 
her  younger  days,  she  had  aided  her  father  in  pre- 


c 4 5  GENERA L  JOHN  A.  LOGAN. 

paring  his  papers  as  Sheriff  of  the  county,  Clerk  of 
the  Courts,  and  Register  of  the  Land  Office.  Blank 
forms  for  legal  documents  were  almost  unknown 
in  those  days,  and  the  daughter  used  to  write  the 
papers  required  by  her  father  in  his  official  duties. 
John  Logan  was  at  that  time  Prosecuting  Attorney 
of  the  district,  and  he  naturally  became  well 
acquainted  with  Captain  Cunningham  and  his 
daughter.  When  she  returned  from  the  convent 
he  wooed  and  won  her,  and  the  young  couple  com 
menced  their  married  life  at  Benton,  Illinois.  Since 
then  she  has  been  his  devoted  helpmeet.  She  is  a 
brilliant  and  thoroughly  educated  woman,  with 
great  simplicity  of  manner,  earnestness  of  convic 
tion,  and  remarkable  magnetic  power.  She  has 
always  entered  heartily  into  every  project  of  her 
husband,  and,  as  became  a  devoted  wife,  has  re 
joiced  in  his  success  at  the  bar,  in  the  army,  and 
in  political  life.  Though  naturally  of  a  retiring 
disposition,  she  possesses  great  spirit  and  determi 
nation,  which  has  shone  resplendent  in  many  times 
of  trial  and  emergency. 

In  1856,  Mr.  Logan  was  chosen  Presidential 
elector  on  the  Democratic  ticket,  for  the  Ninth 
Congressional  District  of  Illinois,  and  cast  his  vote 
in  favor  of  James  Buchanan  for  President,  and 
John  C.  Breckinridge  for  Vice-President.  He  was 
re-elected  to  the  State  Legislature  in  the  fall  of 
that  year,  and  again  in  1857. 


MRS.  SENATOR  JOHN  A.  LOGAN. 


CHAPTER  III. 

REPRESENTATIVE  IN  CONGRESS — WASHINGTON. 

IN  the  fall  of  1858,  when  the  famous  contest 
between  Lincoln  and  Douglas  politically  con 
vulsed  the  State,  Mr.  Logan  was  elected  a 
Representative  in  Congress  from  the  Ninth  Con 
gressional  District  of  Illinois.  A  large  number  of 
the  old-line  Whigs  voted  for  him,  and  he  received 
15,878  votes  against  2,796  votes  for  D.  L.  Phil 
lips,  the  Republican  candidate,  and  144  votes 
scattering.  Mrs.  Logan,  who  had  taken  a  deep 
interest  in  his  campaign,  accompanied  her  hus 
band  to  Washington,  where  they  lived  in  the 
modest  way  from  which  they  have  never  departed. 
In  the  long  contest  for  Speaker,  at  the  commence 
ment  of  the  session,  he  came  prominently  to  the 
front  as  the  defender  of  Stephen  A.  Douglas 
against  personal  attacks,  and  when  questioned 
concerning  his  political  views,  he  said  :  "  I  will 
answer  the  gentleman's  question.  I  am  now 
about  twenty-eight  years  of  age.  I  was  born  a 
Democrat ;  and  all  my  life  I  have  learned  to  be 
lieve  that  the  Democratic  party,  in  national  con 
vention,  never  does  wrong.  I  have  buried  past 
issues.  I  have  done  with  them.  Ignoring  them, 

549 


GENERAL  JOHN  A.  LOGAN. 

I  say  that  I  am  a  Democrat  without  a  prefix  to 
my  name.  I  am  for  Stephen  A.  Douglas  for  the 
next  President  of  the  United  States — first,  last, 
and  all  the  time.  If  he  is  not  nominated,  I  am 
for  the  next  man — that  is,  sir,  the  man  who  is 
nominated."  He  was  in  favor  of  supporting  the 
Constitution  and  of  carrying  out  its  guarantees, 
"  as,"  to  use  his  own  words — "  every  man  will  do 
who  is  a  patriot,  a  good  citizen,  a  law-abiding  and 
a  Constitution-loving  man." 

Mr.  Pennington  (who  had  been  substituted  by 
the  Republicans  for  Mr.  John  Sherman)  was 
elected  Speaker  on  the  forty-fourth  ballot,  and 
after  two  months  of  earnest  struggle.  Mr.  Logan 
voted  for  the  Democratic  candidate,  except  on 
the  thirty-ninth  ballot,  when  he  voted  for  Mr. 
Smith,  of  North  Carolina.  In  giving  his  reasons 
for  this  vote,  he  said :  "  I  do  not  make  any 
remarks  for  the  purpose  of  justifying  myself  be 
fore  my  constituents,  because  I  do  not  believe 
they  would  call  in  question  any  vote  that  I  may 
give  here  in  accordance  with  the  will  of  the  large 
majority  of  the  Democratic  party  of  this  House. 
I  represent  upon  this  floor,  perhaps,  as  large  a 
constituency  as  any  man  here.  I  came  here  with 
a  Democratic  majority  of  about  fourteen  thou 
sand  votes  over  a  Republican  opposition.  I  have 
never  in  my  life  given  any  other  than  a  Demo 
cratic  vote.  In  the  district  I  have  the  honor  to 
represent  there  is  an  element  now  assisting  the 


REPRESENTATIVE  IN  CONGRESS.  -  ^  j 

Democratic  party  in  sustaining  the  Union  and  the 
Constitution — I  allude  to  the  old-line  Whigs." 

Mr.  Logan  was  appointed  Chairman  of  the 
Committee  on  "  Revised  and  Unfinished  Busi 
ness,"  which  was  the  only  committee  entirely  com 
posed  of  Democrats.  He  soon  displayed  his 
executive  ability  and  industrious  habits.  He  was 
always  present  at  the  sessions  of  the  House,  and 
the  business  of  his  constituents  at  the  Depart 
ment  was  always  promptly  attended  to,  thus  in 
creasing  his  hold  upon  their  esteem.  Old  party 
lines  were  being  broken  up,  but  Mr.  Logan  ad 
hered  with  unbroken  tenacity  to  the  doctrines  of 
Jefferson  and  Jackson,  as  then  interpreted  by  the 
Democratic  .party.  When  a  bill  was  reported 
from  the  Committee  on  the  Judiciary  to  punish 
and  prevent  the  practice  of  polygamy  in  Utah, 
Mr.  Logan  offered  as  a  substitute  a  bill  repealing 
the  act  creating  that  Territory  and  establishing 
in  its  stead  the  Territories  of  Jeffersonia  and 
Nevada.  Many  thought  then  and  think  now  that 
this  would  have  broken  up  effectually  the  sway  of 
polygamy. 

Amid  the  greatest  political  excitement,  Mr. 
Logan  was  ever  attentive  to  the  wants  of  his  con 
stituents.  He  secured  the  passage  of  a  bill  for 
the  holding  of  Circuit  and  District  Courts  of  the 
United  States  for  the  Southern  District  of  Illinois, 
in  the  city  of  Cairo,  thus  avoiding  the  necessity 
for  jurors,  lawyers,  litigants,  and  witnesses  there- 


GENERAL  JOHN  A.  LOGAN. 

abouts  to  journey  some  two  hundred  miles  to 
Springfield.  He  also  sought  a  confirmation  to  the 
titles  of  some  eighteen  hundred  acres  of  saline 
lands  which  individuals  had  purchased  of  the  State 
in  good  faith,  but  the  record  of  the  sale  of  which 
had  been  destroyed,  and  he  urged  the  passage  of 
other  acts  calculated  to  benefit  the  State  of 
Illinois. 

When  evening  sessions  were  asked  for  he  said 
that  if  they  were  simply  for  the  purpose  of  allow 
ing  gentlemen  to  read  written  speeches,  he  had 
no  objections,  but  he  desired  to  take  the  floor 
when  the  report  of  the  Peace  Committee  was  dis 
cussed.  He  had  no  written  speech — he  never 
wrote  one — he  did  not  want  to  speak  at  night  to 
empty  benches  and  he  hoped  the  House  would 
not  force  him  to.  When  he  obtained  the  floor  he 
spoke  earnestly  for  an  hour  on  the  state  of  the 
Union,  as  seen  from  his  Democratic  standpoint, 
and  deprecated  war,  discussing  the  best  way  in 
which  to  "restore  tranquillity  and  to  bring  the 
American  people  once  more  together  in  the  bonds 
of  amity  and  peace."  He  wanted  to  have  the 
people  of  the  South,  who  had  been  dragged  into 
the  whirlpool  of  disunion  by  reckless  and  ambi 
tious  men,  return  on  bended  knees,  exclaiming: 
"I  come  once  more  to  the  parental  roof  for  pro 
tection,"  and  he  said:  "I  have  been  taught  to  be 
lieve  that  the  preservation  of  this  glorious  Union, 
with  its  broad  flag  waving  over  us  as  the  shield  for 


REPRESENTATIVE  IN  CONGRESS.  c  r  -, 

55o 

our  protection  on  land  and  on  sea,  is  paramount 
to  all  the  parties  and  platforms  that  ever  have 
existed  or  ever  can  exist.  I  would  to-day,  if  I  had 
the  power,  sink  my  own  party  and  every  other 
one,  with  all  their  platforms,  into  the  vortex  of 
ruin,  without  heaving  a  sigh  or  shedding  a  tear, 
to  save  the  Union  or  even  stop  the  revolution 
where  It  is."  In  conclusion,  Mr.  Logan  said:  "Sir, 
what  shall  I  say  to  my  gallant  constituents  when 
I  return  to  them?  Shall  I  bear  the  ill  tidings  that 
nothing  has  been  done  in  Congress  to  give  them 
a  ray  of  hope  for  the  future  of  our  country  ?  Must 
I  tell  those  gallant  Tennesseeans,  Kentuckians, 
and  men  from  different  Southern  States,  that  ere 
long,  if  they  should  desire  to  visit  the  soil  of  their 
nativity,  they  must  be  prepared  to  visit  a  foreign 
and  perhaps  a  hostile  government  ?  Shall  I  say  to 
the  sons  of  gallant  old  Virginia,  the  mother  of  our 
own  State,  that  it  is  highly  probable  that  very 
soon,  if  they  want  to  visit  the  soil  where  their 
fathers  and  mothers,  the  man  who  wrote  the  Dec 
laration  of  Independence,  the  one  who  drafted  the 
Constitution,  and  the  one  who,  with  our  poor 
and  half-starved  armies,  drove  the  British  from 
our  land,  signed  the  Constitution,  and  was  our 
first  President,  all  lie  buried — that 'they  will  at 
some  future  day  have  the  opportunity,  with  a  pass 
port  in  their  pockets,  or,  in  certain  events,  they 
can  do  so  with  a  torch  in  one  hand  and  a  sword 
in  the  other  ?  No,  no  !  Let  me  not  bear  this  sad 


CCA  GENERAL  JOHN  A.  LOGAN. 

intelligence.  In  the  name  of  the  patriotic  sires 
who  breasted  the  storms  and  vicissitudes  of  the 
Revolution;  by  all  the  kindred  ties  of  this  country  ; 
in  the  name  of  the  many  battles  fought  for  our 
freedom ;  in  behalf  of  the  young  and  the  old ;  in 
behalf  of  the  arts  and  sciences,  civilization,  peace, 
order,  Christianity,  and  humanity,  I  appeal  to  you 
to  strike  from  your  limbs  the  chains  that  bind 
them ;  come  forth  from  that  loathsome  prison, 
{party  caucus)  and  in  tliis  hour,  the  most  gloomy 
and  disheartening  to  the  lovers  of  free  institutions 
that  has  ever  existed  during  our  country's  history, 
arouse  the  drooping  spirits  of  our  countrymen  by 
putting  forth  your  good  strong  arms  to  assist  in 
steadying  the  rocking  pillars  of  the  mightiest  Re 
public  that  has  ever  had  an  existence." 


CHAPTER  IV. 

STORMY  SCENES  IN  CONGRESS — HOSTILITIES  COM 
MENCED. 

IN  1860,  Mr.  Logan's  constituents  were  so  well 
pleased  with  their  Representative  that  they  re- 
elected  him  to  the  Thirty-seventh  Congress, 
giving  him  21,381  votes  against  5,439  for  Linegar, 
Republican.  In  that  political  campaign  he  con 
tinued  to  give  his  ardent  support  to  Stephen  A. 
Douglas.  That  winter,  the  Legislature  having  re- 
districted  the  State,  he  removed  his  residence  to 
Marion,  Williamson  County,  in  order  that  he 
might  still  remain  in  his  proper  Congressional  lo 
cality.  Before  leaving  his  old  home  he  expressed 
his  regret  that  Mr.  Douglas  had  not  been  made 
President  rather  than  Mr.  Lincoln,  but  he  declared 
that  the  latter  having  been  elected,  he  "  would 
shoulder  his  musket  to  have  him  inaugurated  if 
any  armed  demonstration  should  be  made." 

On  reaching  Washington  to  be  present  at  the 
opening  of  the  last  session  of  the  Thirty-sixth 
Congress,  in  December,  1860,  Mr.  Logan  saw 
many  of  the  Southern  Senators  and  Representa 
tives  secede  from  the  Congress  of  the  United 
States,  while  a  few  others,  truculent  and  defiant, 

555 


556         GENERAL  JOHN  A.  LOGAN. 

remained  to  place  every  obstacle  in  the  way  of 
coercion  by  the  Federal  Government.  Mr.  Logan 
repeatedly  arraigned  them  for  their  ill-concealed 
disloyalty,  and  asked  them  how  they  reconciled 
their  hostility  to  the  Government  with  the  oaths 
which  they  had  taken  to  support  the  Constitution. 
Attending  the  special  session  of  the  Thirty- 
seventh  Congress,  called  by  Mr.  Lincoln,  which 
met  on  the  Fourth  of  July,  1861,  Mr.  Logan  saw 
the  war-clouds  gathering  in  every  direction.  The 
National  Metropolis  resounded  with  the  beating 
of  drums  and  the  clang  of  arms  as  patriotic  men 
came  hastening  from  all  sections  of  the  loyal 
North  to  its  defense,  while  the  Confederates,  hav 
ing  seized  many  forts  and  arsenals  of  the  United 
States,  were  concentrating  a  large  armed  force  on 
the  south  bank  of  the  Potomac.  The  Republi 
cans,  of  course,  sustained  the  Administration,  and 
the  Democrats,  rising  above  party  trammels,  in 
dorsed  the  declaration  of  President  Lincoln  that 
there  were  "wrongs  to  be  redressed,  already  long 
enough  endured."  Those  who  had  been  the  dis 
ciples  of  that  great  General  who  had  declared 
that  "  the  Federal  Union  must  and  shall  be  pre 
served,"  did  not  choose  to  endure  those  wrongs 
any  longer.  Mr.  Logan,  alive  to  the  gravity  and 
the  dangers  of  the  situation,  turned  from  the 
Democratic  party  toward  the  Republicans  as  the 
defenders  and  preservers  of  the  Union,  and  when 
he  turned,  it  was  without  a  qualification. 


STORMY  SCENES  IN  CONGRESS.  r  c  7 

Before  the  close  of  the  session,  Mr.  Adrian,  of 
New  Jersey,  offered  the  following  resolution  in 
the  House  of  Representatives:  ''Resolved,  That 
we  fully  approve  of  the  bold  and  patriotic  act  of 
Major  Anderson  in  withdrawing  from  Fort  Moul- 
trie  to  Fort  Sumter,  and  of  the  determination  of 
the  President  to  maintain  that  fearless  officer  in 
his  present  position  ;  and  that  we  will  support  the 
President  in  all  constitutional  measures  to  enforce 
the  laws  and  preserve  the  Union."  Upon  the 
passage  of  this  resolution  Mr.  Logan  voted  "aye," 
and  added  that  "it  received  his  unqualified  sup 
port."  Years  afterward,  when  slanderers  had 
undertaken  to  cast  doubts  upon  his  loyalty  at  this 
critical  period,  Senators  L.  Q.  C.  Lamar  and  Pugh 
bore  unsolicited  testimony  to  his  loyalty  of  deed, 
thought,  and  purpose. 

"On  to  Richmond!"  now  became  the  popular 
cry,  and  on  the  i6th  of  July  the  Union  army 
crossed  the  Potomac.  On  the  i8th,  General 
McDowell  sent  forward  three  columns  to  make 
reconnoisances  of  the  enemy's  entrenched  position 
on  the  south  bank  of  Bull  Run.  One  of  these 
columns,  commanded  by  Brigadier-General  Tyler, 
after  encountering  obstructions,  reached  Bull  Run, 
at  Blackburn's  Ford,  and  found  a  Confederate 
battery  on  the  opposite  bank.  After  some  ex 
changes  of  shots  by  the  artillery,  Colonel  Rich 
ardson,  who  commanded  a  brigade,  was  ordered 
forward  to  reconnoitre,  and  he  threw  out  a 


558  GENERAL  JOHN  A.  LOGAN. 

regiment  as  skirmishers  into  the  thick  woods 
which  bordered  the  creek.  The  Confederates 
opened  a  raking  fire  of  artillery  and  musketry 
upon  them,  and  a  lively  fusilade  ensued,  which 
resulted  in  the  retreat  of  the  skirmishing  regi 
ment.  Colonel  Richardson  reported  this  to  Gen 
eral  Tyler,  and  proposed  to  make  a  charge  with 
the  remaining  three  regiments  of  the  brigade  for 
the  purpose  of  carrying  the  enemy's  position. 
General  Tyler  sent  back  word  that  the  Confed 
erates  were  in  large  force  and  strongly  fortified, 
and  that  a  further  attack  was  unnecessary.  It 
was,  he  said,  merely  a  reconnoissance,  and  the 
strength  of  the  enemy  having  been  ascertained, 
Colonel  Richardson  would  fall  back  with  his  com 
mand,  an  order  which  was  reluctantly  complied 
with. 

General  Anson  G.  McCook,  who  was  in  the 
supporting  brigade  commanded  by  General 
Schenck,  as  a  captain  of  the  Second  Ohio  Volun 
teers,  narrates  an  episode  which  occurred  just  as 
Colonel  Richardson's  skirmish  line  was  recalled. 
He  saw,  slowly  coming  back  from  the  front,  two 
civilians,  who  attracted  his  attention.  One  he  re 
cognized  as  his  uncle,  Daniel  McCook,  of  Illinois, 
and  the  other,  who  wore  a  high  silk  hat  and 
carried  a  musket  on  his  shoulder,  had  gleaming 
black  eyes  and  a  heavy  moustache.  His  hands 
and  clothes  were  covered  with  blood,  for  he  had 
been  helping  to  carry  wounded  men  out  of  range, 


HOSTILITIES  COMMENCED.  tfa 

and  he  was  using  decidedly  energetic  language 
in  condemnation  of  the  recall  of  the  troops.  It 
was  Mr.  Logan,  who  had  gone  out  on  the  ad 
vanced  picket  line  with  Colonel  Richardson,  and 
who  was  emphatic  in  his  assertions  that  the  re 
served  regiments  should  have  been  ordered  for 
ward  into  the  fight. 

Two  days  afterward,  General  McDowell,  hav 
ing  found  that  the  enemy's  works  commanding 
the  fords  could  not  be  carried  by  assault  without 
a  great  loss,  concentrated  his  forces  at  Centre- 
ville,  and  advanced  by  the  flank  around  the  fords 
to  attack  the  Confederates  at  Manassas.  The 
advancing  columns  of  Union  soldiers,  with  glisten 
ing  bayonets,  gay  flags,  and  bands  performing 
patriotic  airs,  moved  through  the  primeval  forests 
of  the  Old  Dominion.  They  were  accompanied  by 
a  crowd  of  spectators,  who  had  driven  out  from 
Washington  to  witness  the  fight,  as  they  would 
have  pfone  to  witness  a  horse-race  or  a  ^ame  at 

o  o 

base-ball.  The  Union  officers,  smarting  under 
the  insinuations  of  politicians  that  they  dared  not 
fight,  gallantly  led  their  undisciplined  commands 
into  the  range  of  the  enemy's  guns,  where  they 
fought  like  veterans.  At  first  it  was  thought  that 
victory  had  perched  on  the  Union  flags,  but  the 
decimated  Confederate  regiments  received  fresh 
courage  from  the  arrival  of  reinforcements,  and 
the  tide  of  battle  was  turned  in  their  favor.  A 
retreat  was  ordered,  which  soon  become  a  dis- 


562  GENERAL  JOHN  A.  LOGAN 

graceful  rout,  and  it  was  impossible  to  control 
men  who  had  lost  all  presence  of  mind  and  only 
longed  for  absence  of  body. 

The  Confederates  were  in  no  condition  to  fol 
low  up  the  victory  which  they  had  gained  and  to 
press  on  to  Washington,  and  the  defeat  secured 
the  support  of  every  loyal  man  in  the  Northern 
States  for  the  Union  cause  whatever  his  previous 
political  convictions  might  have  been.  Practical 
issues  were  presented,  and  there  was  no  time  for 
hesitation  or  indecision. 

Thenceforth  Mr.  Logan  was  animated  by  the 
sentiment  uttered  by  his  deceased  political  leader, 
Stephen  A.  Douglas,  in  his  last  public  speech : 
"The  conspiracy  is  now  known,  armies  have  been 
raised,  war-  is  levied  to  accomplish  it.  There  are 
only  two  sides  to  the  question.  Every  man  must 
be  for  the  United  States  or  against  it.  There 
can  be  no  neutrals  in  this  war ;  only  Republicans 
or  traitors."  Believing  this,  Mr.  Logan  wrote  to 
his  relatives  and  friends  in  Illinois,  telling  them 
that  there  were  but  two  sides  to  the  question,  and 
that  he  intended  to  take  up  arms  for  the  Union. 


CHAPTER  V. 

THE  COLONEL — BELMONT — FORT  HENRY — FORT 
DONELSON. 

CONGRESS  adjourned  on  the  6th  day  of 
August,  and  Mr.  Logan,  hastening  to  Illi 
nois,  obtained  the  recruiting  papers  for  the 
Thirty-first  Regiment  of  Volunteers,  which  he 
proceeded  to  raise  in  the  immediate  neighborhood 
of  his  home,  having  first  enlisted  as  a  private  him 
self.  Attempts  had  been  made  there  to  induce 
the  young  men  to  enter  the  Confederate  ser 
vice,  and  a  few  of  them  had  crossed  the  Ohio 
and  enlisted  in  the  Thirteenth  Tennessee  Con 
federate  Regiment.  Mr.  Logan's  appearance 
turned  the  scale.  On  the  3d  of  September  he 
addressed  a  public  meeting  at  Marion,  announcing 
his  intention  to  enter  the  Union  service  as  a  private, 
or  in  any  capacity  in  which  he  could  serve  his  coun 
try  best  in  defending  the  old  blood-stained  flag  over 
every  foot  of  soil  in  the  United  States.  His  elo 
quence  and  high  personal  reputation  rallied  friends 
and  neighbors  around  him,  and  on  the  I3th  of 
November,  1861,  the  Thirty-first  Regiment  of 
Illinois  Volunteers  was  organized,  and  he  was 
chosen  and  commissioned  as  its  colonel. 

563 


g  54  GENERAL  JOHN  A.  LOO  AM 

The  newly  organized  regiment  was  ordered  to 
report  at  the  rendezvous  at  Cairo,  which  had  been 
placed  under  the  command  of  Brigadier-General 
Grant,  who  had  gone  there  as  the  colonel  of  the 
Twenty-first  Regiment  of  Illinois,  and  had  been 
promoted.  The  first  brigade  which  he  organized 
was  composed  of  the  Twenty-seventh,  Twenty- 
ninth,  Thirtieth  and  Thirty-first  Regiments,  which 
he  placed  under  the  command  of  General  Mc- 
Clernand,  who,  like  Colonel  Logan,  had  been 
identified  with  the  Democratic  party.  Mrs.  Logan 
accompanied  her  husband. 

On  the  night  of  November  6th,  McClernand's 
brigade  left  Cairo,  on  a  steamer,  as  part  of  an 
expedition  which  General  Grant  commanded,  to 
assault  the  Confederates'  works  at  Belmont,  on 
the  Mississippi  River.  Few  of  the  officers  or  men 
had  ever  before  seen  a  battle,  the  regiments  were 
imperfectly  disciplined  and  drilled,  and  the  mus 
kets  were  of  an  inferior  character.  Yet  the  expe 
dition  started  boldly  out,  and  passing  the  intrench- 
ments  at  Belmont,  landed  above  them  on  the  yth, 
and  moved  through  dense  woods  to  their  rear. 
The  ground  was  hotly  contested,  but  after  two 
miles  of  continuous  fighting,  the  Confederates 
were  forced  to  seek  shelter  in  their  camp.  General 
Grant's  forces  drove  them  from  that  position, 
destroyed  the  camp,  and  returning  to  their  boats, 
brought  away  two  hundred  prisoners,  two  field 
pieces,  and  a  large  quantity  of  munitions  of  war. 


BELMONT—FOR  T  HENR  Y.  r  £  r 

Colonel  Logan  distinguished  himself  in  the  action 
by  ordering  his  flag  to  the  front,  and  leading  his 
regiment  with  unbroken  ranks,  followed  by  the 
whole  force.  He  had  his  horse  shot  from  under 
him,  and  a  ball  shattered  the  revolver  which  he 
carried  at  his  side,  yet  he  escaped  unhurt.  Mrs. 
Logan,  who  was  in  the  camp  at  Cairo,  heard  the 
roar  of  artillery  at  Belmont,  and  while  anxious  for 
her  husband,  gave  her  personal  attention  to  the 
wounded  as  they  were  brought  back,  ministering 
to  their  wants  with  assiduous  care. 

In  February,  1862,  Brigadier-General  Grant 
again  left  Cairo  at  the  head  of  a  considerable  force 
for  hostile  demonstrations  on  the  Tennessee  River, 
in  concert  with  a  fleet  of  gunboats  commanded  by 
Flag-officer  Foote.  Fort  Henry  was  captured  on 
the  6th  of  February,  Colonel  Logan  taking  part 
in  the  investment  by  land,  and  capturing  eight  of 
the  enemy's  guns.  He  made  several  reconnois- 
sances  around  Fort  Donelson  before  the  arrival 
of  the  Union  troops  there,  and  took  an  active  part 
in  the  three  days  siege,  in  command  of  his  regi 
ment. 

When  the  enemy  made  a  vigorous  attack  on 
the  Fifteenth,  upon  the  right  wing,  to  which  the 
Thirty-first  Regiment  belonged,  the  ammunition 
of  the  men  became  nearly  exhausted,  and  while 
Colonel  Logan  and  Lieutenant-Colonel  White 
were  rallying  them  the  latter  fell,  mortally 
wounded.  Colonel  Logan,  at  the  same  time,  re- 


5 56  GENERAL  JOHN  A.  LOGAN. 

ceived  a  musket-ball,  which  entered  the  fore  part 
of  his  left  arm,  passed  around  it,  and  out  through 
the  shoulder.  He  was  also  struck  in  the  hip  by 
two  spent  balls  ;  but  he  never  flinched,  and  his  in 
trepidity  kept  his  men  in  position  until  reinforce 
ments  arrived.  He  was  then  forced  to  go  to  the 
rear  and  have  his  wounds  dressed,  his  men  being 
fearful  of  the  results,  as  loss  of  blood  had  nearly 
exhausted  him.  The  battle  lasted  until  dark,  and 
the  next  morning  General  Buckner,  the  Confed 
erate  commander,  sent  in  a  flag  of  truce  proposing 
an  armistice  and  the  appointment  of  commission 
ers  to  settle  terms  of  capitulation.  General  Grant's 
reply  was  characteristic  :  "  No  terms  other  than 
unconditional  and  immediate  surrender  can  be 
accepted,"  and  he  added  :  "  I  propose  to  move 
immediately  on  your  works."  The  "  Stars  and 
Bars"  which  had  floated  over  Fort  Donelson 
were  at  once  lowered,  and  the  "Stars  and  Stripes  " 
floated  proudly  in  their  place. 

It  was  this  engagement,  in  which  the  First  Illi 
nois  Brigade  held  its  ground  for  three  long  hours, 
during  which  time  nearly  one-third  were  either 
killed  or  wounded,  that  a  Massachusetts  poet 
described,  saying : 

"  Thy  proudest  mother's  eyelids  fill, 

As  dares  her  gallant  boy, 
And  Plymouth  Rock  and  Bunker  Hill 
Yearn  to  thee — Illinois." 

Colonel   Logan   was  taken   with   his  regiment 


INTERIOR  OF  FORT  HENRY. 


WATER  BATTERY  AT  FORT  DONEISQI?.',  ,' 


FOR  T  D  ON  EL  SON.  r  5  Q 

back  to  Cairo,  prostrated  by  his  wounds  and  by 
malarial  fever  contracted  by  exposure,  and  for 
three  weeks  he  lay  at  death's  door.  Yet  he  re 
fused  to  be  taken  from  his  decimated  and  suf 
fering  regiment,  and  insisted  on  remaining  with 
his  "  boys  "  until  they  had  somewhat  recuperated. 
Mrs.  Logan,  who  had  gone  to  her  father's  house 
at  Marion  when  her  husband  started  on  the  Ten 
nessee  River  campaign,  hastened  back  to  Cairo 
to  minister  to  his  wants.  For  several  days  he 
was  in  a  very  critical  condition,  but  she  had  the 
satisfaction  of  seeing  her  devoted  care  rewarded 
by  his  convalescence. 

Colonel  Logan's  bravery  at  the  battle  of  Fort 
Donelson  was  honorably  mentioned  by  his  com 
manding  officers,  and  General  Grant  recom 
mended  him  to  the  Secretary  of  War  as  deserving 
advancement  for  meritorious  services.  He  was 
one  of  four  colonels  recommended  for  promotion, 
General  Grant  saying:  "  He  is  from  civil  pursuits, 
but  I  have  no  hesitation  in  fully  indorsing  him  as 
in  every  way  qualified  for  the  position  of  briga- 
dier-generak"  President  Lincoln  so  appointed 
him,  and  the  nomination  was  confirmed  by  the 
Senate  on  the  5th  day  of  March,  1862. 


CHAPTER  VI. 

BRIGADIER-GENERAL — CORINTH — JACKSON THE 

PATRIOT. 

GENERAL    LOGAN    was    offered   "sick 
leave,"  but  he  declined  and  reported  to 
General  Grant  (who  had  meanwhile  been 
promoted  to  the  rank  of  major-general),  and  was, 
on  the  1 2th  of  April,  1862,  placed  in  command  of 
the   brigade   in  which  he  had   served  under   Mc- 
Clernand  and  Oglesby,  excepting  that  the  Twelfth 
Michigan  was  substituted  for  his  own   regiment, 
which  had  been  placed  under  the  command  of  his 
quartermaster,  Lindorf  Ozburn. 

For  a  few  days  General  Logan  was  prevented 
by  ill  health  from  assuming  the  command  of  his 
brigade,  but  the  closing  scenes  of  the  battle  of 
Corinth  found  him  in  the  saddle  in  command  of 
the  picket-line.  Two  nights  before  the  Confed 
erates  evacuated  their  works  while  his  men  were 
laying  on  their  arms  ready  to  meet  an  attack  should 
one  be  made,  he  became  impressed  with  the  idea 
that  a  retreat  had  been  commenced  and  wanted  to 
advance,  but  was  refused  authority  to  do  so.  The 
next  afternoon  the  enemy  made  a  desperate  sortie 
in  force  on  the  picket-line.  "  In  this  attack,"  said 
570 


BRIGADIER-  GENERAL— CORINTH— JACKSON,     r  7  j 

General  Logan  in  his  official  report,  "the  men 
again  exhibited  that  true  Western  courage  which 
has  characterized  them  in  so  many  engagements, 
and  maintained  their  position  like  veteran  soldiers. 
After  receiving  thefireof  the  enemy  they  returned  it 
with  great  vigor,  and  immediately  advanced,  under 
command  of  Captains  Lieb  and  Cowen,  of  the  Eighth 
and  Forty-fifth  Regiments  respectively,  and  fought 
the  enemy,  of  three  times  their  number,  alone. 
On  the  next  morning  I  received  official  notice  of 
the  evacuation  of  Corinth,  and  that  the  American 
flag,  as  it  waved  over  the  rebel  fortifications,  was 
greeted  by  the  thundering  shouts  of  our  soldiery." 
General  Sherman,  in  his  official  report,  acknowl 
edged  his  special  obligations  to  General  Logan, 
who  "held  the  critical  ground  on  the  right,  extend 
ing  down  to  the  railroad.  All  the  time  he  had  in 
his  front  a  large  force  of  the  enemy,  but  so  dense 
was  the  foliage  that  he  could  not  reckon  their 
strength,  save  what  he  could  see  on  the  railroad 
track.". 

General  Logan  was  ordered,  after  the  capitula 
tion  of  Corinth,  to  command  a  division  sent  to  oc 
cupy  and  rebuild  the  railroad  leading  to  Jackson, 
Tennessee,  which  was  an  important  depot  of  sup 
plies.  Advancing  with  all  possible  rapidity,  a  de 
tachment  from  his  division  seized  Jackson  on  the 
7th  of  June,  1862,  while  the  Confederates  were 
taking1  dinner,  and  put  them  to  flight,  capturing  a 
number  of  animals  and  a  quantity  of  commissary 


GENERAL  JOHN  A.  LOGAN. 

and  quartermaster's  stores.  General  Logan  was 
placed  in  command  at  Jackson,  which  was  an  im 
portant  position,  requiring  great  administrative 
abilities.  From  there,  under  date  of  August  26th, 
he  addressed  the  following  patriotic  letter  to  the 
Hon.  O.  M.  Hatch,  Secretary  of  State,  which  was 
read  at  the  Illinois  Union  Convention,  in  Septem 
ber,  1862: 

"I  have  the  honor  to  acknowledge  the  receipt 
of  your  complimentary  letter  of  the  i8th  inst.,  ask 
ing  permission  to  use  my  name  in  connection  with 
that  of  the  Fourteenth  Representative  in  Con 
gress  from  the  State  of  Illinois. 

"  In  reply,  I  would  most  respectfully  remind  you 
that  a  compliance  with  your  request  on  my  part 
would  be  a  departure  from  the  settled  resolutions 
with  which  I  resumed  my  sword  in  defense  and 
for  the  perpetuity  of  a  Government  the  like  and 
blessings  of  which  no  other  nation  or  age  shall 
enjoy  if  once  suffered  to  be  weakened  or  de 
stroyed.  In  making  this  reply,  I  feel  that  it  is  un 
necessary  to  enlarge  as  to  what  were,  are,  or  may 
hereafter  be  my  political  views,  but  would  simply 
state  that  politics  of  every  grade  and  character 
whatsoever  are  now  ignored  by  me,  since  I  am 
convinced  that  the  Constitution  and  life  of  this 
Republic — which  I  shall  never  cease  to  adore — 
are  in  danger. 

"  I  express  all  my  views  and  politics  when  I  as 
sert  my  attachment  for  the  Union.  I  have  no 


BRIGADIER-  GENERAL-  CORINTH— J A  CKSON. 

other  politics  now,  and  consequently  no  aspira 
tions  for  civil  place  and  power.  No  !  I  am  to-day 
a  soldier  of  this  Republic,  so  to  remain,  changeless 
and  immutable  until  her  last  and  weakest  enemy 
shall  have  expired  and  passed  away.  Ambitious 
men,  who  have  not  a  true  love  for  their  country 
at  heart,  may  bring  forth  crude  and  bootless  ques 
tions  to  agitate  the  pulse  of  our  troubled  nation 
and  thwart  the  preservation  of  this  Union,  but  for 
none  of  such  am  I.  I  have  entered  the  field — to 
die  if  needs  be — for  this  Government,  and  never 
expect  to  return  to  peaceful  pursuits  until  the  ob 
ject  of  this  war  has  become  a  fact  established. 

"  Whatever  means  it  may  be  necessary  to  adopt, 
whatever  local  interest  it  may  affect  or  destroy,  is 
no  longer  an  affair  of  mine.  If  any  locality  or 
section  suffers  or  is  wronged  in  the  prosecution 
of  the  war,  I  am  sorry  for  it,  but  I  say  it  must  not 
be  heeded  now,  for  we  are  at  war  for  the  preser 
vation  of  the  Union.  Let  the  evil  be  rectified 
when  the  present  breach  has  been  cemented  for 
ever.  If  the  South  by  her  malignant  treachery 
has  imperiled  all  that  made  her  great  and  wealthy, 
and  it  was  to  be  lost,  I  would  not  stretch  forth  my 
hand  to  save  her  from  destruction,  if  she  will  not 
be  saved  by  a  restoration  of  the  Union.  Since 
the  die  of  her  wretchedness  has  been  cast  by  her 
own  hands,  let  the  coin  of  her  misery  circulate 
alone  in  her  own  dominions,  until  the  peace  of 
Union  ameliorates  her  forlorn  condition. 


GENERAL  JOHN  A.  LOGAN. 

"  By  these  few  words  you  may  readily  discern 
that  my  political  aspirations  are  things  of  the  past, 
and  I  am  not  the  character  of  man  you  seek. 
No  legislation  in  which  I  might  be  suffered  to  take 
a  feeble  part,  will  in  my  opinion  suffice  to  amend 
the  injury  already  inflicted  upon  our  country  by 
these  remorseless  traitors.  Their  policy  for  the 
dissolution  of  the  Government  was  initiated  in 
blood,  and  their  seditious  blood  only  can  suffice 
to  make  amends  for  the  evil  done.  This  Govern 
ment  must  be  preserved  for  future  generations  in 
the  same  mold  in  which  it  was  transmitted  to  us 
if  it  takes  the  last  man  and  the  last  dollar  of  the 
present  generation  within  its  borders  to  accom 
plish  it. 

"  For  the  flattering  manner  in  which  you  have 
seen  fit  to  allude  to  my  past  services  I  return  you 
my  sincere  thanks,  but  if  it  has  been  my  fortune 
to  bleed  and  suffer  for  my  dear  country,  it  is  all 
but  too  little  compared  to  what  I  am  willing  again 
and  again  to  endure ;  and  should  fate  so  ordain 
it,  I  will  esteem  it  as  the  highest  privilege  a  just 
Dispenser  can  award  to  shed  the  last  drop  of 
blood  in  my  veins  for  the  honor  of  that  flag  whose 
emblems  are  justice,  liberty,  and  truth,  and  which 
has  been,  and  as  I  humbly  trust  in  God  ever  will 
be,  for  the  right. 

"  In  conclusion,  let  me  request  that  your  desire 
to  associate  my  name  with  the  high  and  honorable 
position  you  would  confer  upon  me  be  at  once 


BRIGADIER-  GENERAL— CORINTH— JA  CKSON.     r  7  c 

dismissed,  and  some  more  suitable  and  worthy 
person  substituted.  Meanwhile  I  shall  continue 
to  look  with  unfeigned  pride  and  admiration  on 
the  continuance  of  the  present  able  conduct  of 
our  State  affairs,  and  feel  that  I  am  sufficiently 
honored  while  acknowledged  as  an  humble  sol 
dier  of  our  own  peerless  State." 


CHAPTER  VII. 

MAJOR-GENERAL — VICKSBURG — THE  ORATOR. 

DURING.  Grant's  Northern  Mississippi 
Campaign  of  1862  and  1863,  Logan  led 
his  division,  exhibiting  great  skill  in  the 
handling  of  troops,  and  was  honored  with  promo 
tion  as  major-general  of  volunteers,  dating  from 
November  29th,  1862.  He  was  afterward  as 
signed  to  the  command  of  the  Third  Division, 
Seventeenth  Army  Corps,  under  General  McPher- 
son,  and  bore  a  distinguished  part  in  the  series  of 
battles  which  followed  each  other  in  rapid  succes 
sion  prior  to  the  final  investment  of  Vicksburg. 
At  the  battle  of  Raymond,  on  the  i2th  of  May, 
there  was  a  desperate  conflict,  in  which  the  Illi 
nois  troops  fought  valiantly  and  lost  heavily,  but 
the  Confederates  were  finally  forced,  at  the  point 
of  the  bayonet,  to  retreat.  "  General  Logan,"  says 
the  Rev.  Dr.  Eddy,  in  his  Military  History  of  Illi 
nois,  "  to  whose  division  belongs  the  honor  of  the 
victory,  was  full  of  zeal  and  wild  with  enthusiasm. 
Fearless  as  a  lion,  he  was  in  every  part  of  the  field, 
and  seemed  to  infuse  every  man  of  his  command 
with  a  part  of  his  own  indomitable  energy  and 
fiery  valor." 

576 


MAJOR-GENERAL—  VICKSBVRG—  THE  ORATOR. 

Equally  glorious  and  decisive  was  the  battle  of 
Jackson  on  the  following  morning,  when,  after  an 
artillery  duel  of  half  an  hour,  without  any  marked 
results,  the  infantry  was  ordered  into  action.  A 
mile  of  open  space  lay  between  the  Union  army 
and  the  Confederates,  every  foot  of  which  was 
swept  by  the  fire  of  artillery.  But  the  Illinois 
troops  steadily  advanced  in  spite  of  the  fearful 
storm  of  shot  and  shell  which  swept  through  their 
ranks.  They  halted  for  a  few  moments  under 
cover  of  a  hill-side.  Their  officers  briefly  ad 
dressed  them,  and  then  gave  the  word  "Forward  !" 
Onward  the  column  flew  on  the  double  quick, 
their  cheers  ringing  high  above  the  din  of  musk 
etry.  They  had  hardly  struck  the  rebel  front 
before  it  was  shivered.  A  long,  loud  cheer  of 
victory  swelled  on  the  air  as  the  foe  fled,  panic- 
stricken,  from  the  field,  and  yielded  the  city  of 
Jackson  as  the  prize  of  battle.  During  the  fight, 
an  officer  was  -sent  to  General  Logan  to  inquire 
how  the  contest  was  going  in  his  front.  Logan 
sent  back  word :  "  Tell  General  Grant  that  my 
division  cannot  be  whipped  by  all  the  rebels  this 
side  of  hell.  We  are  going  ahead,  and  won't  stop 
till  we  get  orders." 

On  the  1 6th,  at  the  battle  of  Champion  Hills, 
General  Logan's  splendid  division,  as  usual,  im 
mortalized  itself.  At  the  commencement  of  the 
battle  he  marched  past  the  brow  of  the  hill,  and 
forming  in  line  of  battle  on  the  right  of  Hovey, 


578         GENERAL  JOHN  A.  LOGAN. 

advanced  in  magnificent  style,  sweeping   every 
thing  before  him.     At  the  edge  of  the  woods  in 
front  of  Logan  the  battle  was  of  the  most  des 
perate  character,  but  not  a  man  flinched  or  a.  line 
wavered  in  his  division.     They  bore  themselves 
like  veterans,  and  moved  on  as  if  conscious  of 
their   invincibility   and   the   certainty  of  victory. 
General  Logan  captured  eleven  guns  and  thirteen 
hundred  prisoners.      The  correspondent  of  the 
Cincinnati   Commercial,  in  his  published  account 
of  this  engagement  said  :     "  General  Logan  was, 
as  usual,  full  of  zeal,  and  intoxicated  with  enthu 
siasm.     His  horse  was  shot  twice.     If  you  ever 
hear  that  Logan  has  been  defeated,  make  up  your 
mind  that  he  and  most  of  his  men  have  been  sac 
rificed.     He  has  stricken  the  word  *  retreat'  from 
his  military  lexicon.     Fighting  his  way  forward, 
the  Union  columns  made  the  investment  of  Vicks- 
burg  secure,  having  displayed  unflinching  endur 
ance,   daring   bravery,   and   determined   energy. 
The  siege  operations  were  carried  on  with  equal 
gallantry,  and  on  the  Fourth  of  July,  1863,  Vicks- 
burg   capitulated.      The    Confederates    marched 
out  of  the  city,  stacked  their  arms  in  front  of  the 
Union  line,  and  then  marched  back  as  prisoners 
to  be  paroled.     When  this  had  been  done,  Gen 
eral  McPherson  and  staff  rode  into  the  city  and 
took  formal  possession,  displaying  the  *  Stars  and 
Stripes'  from  the  cupola  of  the  Court-House.    At 
high-noon  the  Union  army  marched  into  the  city, 


BATTLE  GROUND,  NE.\R  JACKSON,  MISS. 


CAVE  LIFE  IN   VICKSBURG  DURING  ITS  SIEGE. 


MAJOR-  GENERAL—  V1OKSB  UR  G—  THE  OR  A  TOR.     r  §  r 

headed  by  General  Grant.  Next  to  him  came 
General  Logan's  division,  which  passed  High 
Hill  Fort,  where  they  had  recently  fought  desper 
ately,  after  the  explosion  of  a  mine.  The  Gen 
eral  rode  at  their  head,  '  worshiped  by  his  men 
— a  man  of  iron  will  and  lion-like  courage,  who 
seemed  under  the  blasts  of  war  to  change  into  a 
demi-god.' ' 

General  Logan  was  appointed  Military  Gover 
nor  of  Vicksburg,  a  fitting  tribute  to  his  wonder 
ful  earnestness  and  gallantry  during  the  siege. 
Thirteen  thousand  prisoners  were  paroled,  thou 
sands  of  men  of  both  armies  in  hospitals  had  to 
be  cared  for,  and  many  of  the  citizens  were  abso 
lutely  without  food.  There  was  also  a  large 
quantity  of  surrendered  arms  and  munitions  of  war 
to  be  secured.  General  Logan  proved  himself  to 
be  "  the  right  man  in  the  right  place,"  bringing 
order  out  of  chaos,  restraining  disorder,  and  treat 
ing  the  conquered  with  impartial  justice. 

General  Logan's  valor  was  fitly  recognized  in 
the  presentation  made  to  him,  by  the  Board  of 
Honor  of  the  Seventeenth  Army  Corps,  of  a  gold 
medal  inscribed  with  the  names  of  the  nine  battles 
in  which  he  had  participated.  Having  thoroughly 
inaugurated  the  administration  of  affairs  at  Vicks 
burg,  he  spent  a  part  of  the  summer  of  1863  in  a 
visit  to  the  North,  frequently  addressing  large 
assemblages  of  his  fellow-citizens  in  speeches  of 
fiery  eloquence  and  burning  zeal  and  devotion 


rg2          GENERAL  JOHN  A.  LOGAN. 

to  the  cause  of  the  Union.  As  a  specimen  of 
those  speeches  the  following  extract  from  one 
delivered  at  Duquoin,  Illinois,  may  be  quoted : 

"  The  Government  is  worth  fighting  for.  It  is 
worth  generations  and  centuries  of  war.  It  is 
worth  the  lives  of  the  best  and  noblest  men  in  the 
land.  We  will  fight  for  this  Government  for  the 
sake  of  ourselves  and  our  children.  Our  little 
ones  shall  read  in  history  of  the  men  who  stood 
by  the  Government  in  its  dark  and  gloomy  hours, 
and  it  shall  be  the  proud  boast  of  many  that  their 
fathers  died  in  this  glorious  struggle  for  American 
liberty.  I  believe  to-day — I  believe  it  honestly — 
that  if  the  people  of  the  North  were  united  and 
all  stood  upon  one  platform,  as  we  do  in  the 
army,  this  rebellion  would  be  crushed  in  ninety 
days.  I  want  to  show  you  the  reason  why  more 
troops  ought  to  be  raised.  We  can  crush  this 
rebellion.  I  know  it.  Why,  we  have  marched  a 
little  army  clear  from  Cairo  to  Vicksburg ;  below, 
a  small  one  has  marched  from  New  Orleans  to 
Port  Hudson.  We  have  opened  the  Mississippi 
River.  We  have  split  the  Confederacy  in  two, 
leaving  on  one  side  Texas,  Louisiana,  Arkansas, 
and  Missouri — more  territory  than  is  on  the  east 
ern  side.  We  have  made  a  gulf  that  is  impassa 
ble  for  them.  We  can  hurl  our  strength  upon 
one  half  and  whip  it,  then  upon  the  other  and  whip 
that." 


CHAPTER  VIII. 

CORPS  COMMANDER — KENESAW — PEACH  TREE 
CREEK. 

ON  the  1 3th  day  of  November,  1863,  Gen 
eral  Logan  was  promoted  to  the  command 
of  the  Fifteenth  Army  Corps  as  the  suc 
cessor  of  General  Sherman.  In  surrendering 
command  of  his  division  he  reminded  the  officers 
and  soldiers  of  the  different  brigades  of  the  his 
tory  the  division  "  had  made  for  itself — a  history 
to  be  proud  of;  a  history  never  to  be  forgotten  ; 
for  it  is  written  as  with  a  pen  of  fire  dipped  in 
ink  of  blood  on  the  memories  and  in  the  hearts 
of  all."  He  besought  them  always  to  prove 
themselves  as  loyal  in  principle,  as  valiant  in  arms, 
as  their  record  while  under  his  command  would 
show  them  to  have  been  ;  "  to  remember  the 
glorious  cause  you  are  fighting  for,  remember  the 
bleaching  bones  of  your  comrades,  killed  on  the 
bloody  fields  of  Donelson,  Corinth,  Champion 
Hill,  and  Vicksburg,  or  perished  by  disease  dur 
ing  the  past  two  years  of  hardships  and  exposure 
— and  swear  by  these  imperishable  memories 
never,  while  life  remains,  to  prove  recreant  to  the 
trust  high  Heaven  has  confided  to  your  charge." 

583 


r g ^  GENERA L  JOHN  A.  LOGAN. 

He  assured  them  of  his  continued  sympathy  and 
interest  in  their  well-being,  no  matter  how  great  a 
distance  might  separate  them,  and  closed  by 
heartily  recommending  them  to  their  future  com 
mander,  his  own  companion-in-arms  and  succes 
sor,  Brigadier-General  Leggett. 

The  Fifteenth  Corps,  after  General  Logan  was 
promoted  to  its  command,  was  stationed  during 
the  winter  in  the  vicinity  of  Huntsville,  Alabama. 
In  the  spring  the  Fifteenth  Corps,  with  the  Six 
teenth  Corps,  Major-General  G.  M.  Dodge,  and 
the  Seventeenth  Corps,  Major-General  Frank  P. 
Blair,  which  formed  the  "  Army  of  the  Tennes 
see,"  commanded  by  Major-General  McPherson, 
joined  the  "  Army  of  the  Cumberland,"  com 
manded  by  Major-General  Thomas,  and  the 
"  Army  of  the  Ohio,"  commanded  by  Major-Gen 
eral  Schofield.  These  three  armies,  with  an  ag 
gregate  strength  of  98,739  men  and  254  guns, 
formed  the  "  Grand  Military  Division  of  the  Mis 
sissippi,"  commanded  by  General  Sherman — "  one 
of  the  grandest  armies  ever  led  by  gallant  chief 
tain."  The  whole  force  was  consolidated  at  Ring- 
gold  early  in  May,  and  started  southward  on  its 
march  into  Georgia. 

o> 

General  Logan,  at  the  head  of  the  Fourteenth 
Army  Corps,  was  in  the  van,  as  General  Sher 
man  fought  his  way  over  difficult  ground.  Gen 
eral  H.  V.  Boynton,  who  served  gallantly  in  the 
Army  of  the  Cumberland,  says  of  him :  "  As  the 


CORPS  COMMANDER— PEACH  T^REE  CREEK. 

united  armies  advanced  along  a  battle  line,  where 
for  four  months  the  firing  never  wholly  ceased  by 
day  or  by  night,  everybody  came  to  know  Logan. 
Brave,  vigilant,  and  aggressive,  he  won  universal 
applause.  Prudent  for  his  men,  and  reckless  in 
exposing  his  own  person,  he  excited  general  ad 
miration.  When  the  lines  were  close  his  own 
headquarters  were  often  scarcely  out  of  sight  of 
the  pickets,  and  he  generally  had  a  hand  in  what 
ever  deadly  work  might  spring  up  along  his  front." 
Leading  the  advance,  General  Logan  had  a 
bloody  conflict  with  Hardee's  veteran  Confederates 
at  Dallas,  and  after  twelve  days  of  successful  skir 
mishing,  halted  before  Kenesaw  Mountain,  on 
which  the  Confederates  were  strongly  entrenched. 
General  Sherman,  finding  that  he  was  expected  to 
outflank  this  stronghold,  determined, "  for  the  moral 
effect,"  to  carry  it  by  assault,  as  in  his  opinion  "an 
army  to  be  efficient  must  not  settle  down  to  one 
mode  of  offense,  but  must  be  prepared  to  exe 
cute  any  plan  which  promises  success."  General 
Logan,  who  was  with  General  McPherson  at  Gen 
eral  Sherman's  headquarters  when  this  disastrous 
assault  was  decided  upon,  and  who  was  always 
averse  to  the  unnecessary  exposure  of  his  men, 
protested.  "At  first,"  says  General  Boynton,  "he 
scarcely  believed  that  the  intention  to  make  the 
assault  was  earnest.  When  he  discovered  that  it 
was  really  contemplated,  he  emphasized  his  pro 
test,  coupling  it  with  the  opinion  that  to  send  the 


c S 5  GENERA L  JOHN  A.  LOGAN. 

troops  against  that  mountain  would  only  result  in 
useless  slaughter.  Finding  his  opinion  likely  to 
be  disregarded,  he  went  still  further  and  declared 
it  to  be  a  movement  which,  in  his  judgment,  would 
be  nothing  less  than  the  murder  of  brave  men.  In 

o 

all  of  this  he  was  warmly  seconded  by  General 
McPherson.  They  did  not  succeed  in  averting  the 
slaughter.  But  afterward,  when  officers  of  the 
Army  of  the  Cumberland  heard  that  General 
Thomas'  protest  in  regard  to  the  same  matter  had 
been  in  similar  terms  to  that  of  Logan,  a  stronger 
liking  than  ever  for  Logan  prevailed  among  those 
officers  of  the  Cumberland  Army  who  knew  the 
facts.  Thus  he  ever  sought  to  protect  his  men 
whenever  he  saw  that  they  were  likely  to  be  need 
lessly  exposed. 

General  Logan  nevertheless  obeyed  orders. 
Early  on  the  morning  of  the  aythof  June  he  formed 
his  corps  in  storming  columns,  led  it  againstthe  first 
line  of  rebel  abattis  through  a  terrific  fire  of  mus 
ketry,  and  carried  it.  Then  he  advanced  on  the 
second  line,  carrying  that  also,  but  beyond  it  the 
mountain  side  was  so  steep,  and  the  entrench 
ments  were  so  strong,  that,  having  lost  many  valu 
able  lives,  he  was  forced  to  fall  back  to  the  second 
line,  where  they  threw  up  defenses  of  logs,  which 
they  held  despite  the  stubbornest  efforts  of  the 
Confederates  to  dislodge  them. 

An  eye-witness,  describing  General  Logan  as  he 
made  an  inspection  of  his  lines,  dwelt  thus  on  his 


CORPS  COMMANDER— PEACH  TREE  CREEK. 

remarkable  courage  and  coolness  under  fire:  "The 
Confederate  gunners,  seeing  him,  turned  against 
him  every  battery  on  the  mountain,  which  smoked 
like  a  volcano  in  eruption,  sending  forth  a  hurri 
cane  of  missiles,  some  of  which  plowed  up  the 
earth,  while  others,  burs  ting,  filled  the  air  with  flying 
fragments.  The  General,  riding  into  this  mael 
strom  of  shot  and  shell,  halted  by  the  embers  of  a 
nearly  extinguished  camp-fire,  turned  coolly  around, 
and  asked  his  aid-de-camp  for  a  cigar.  Procuring 
one,  the  General  dismounted,  and  leisurely  picked 
up  a  brand,  lit  his  cigar,  and  then  remounted,  puf 
fing  away  as  nonchalantly  as  though  he  had  been 
in  his  Illinois  home  as  he  rode  along,  while  shells 
and  shrapnel  were  screaming  and  bursting  all 
around  him."  With  his  coolness  General  Logan 
combined  that  dashing  abandon  that  quails  before 
nothing  that  will  and  energy  and  daring  can  ac 
complish — resistless,  vigilant,  quick  thoughted,  and 
energetic. 

The  Confederates,  retreating  from  Kenesaw 
Mountain,  fell  back  upon  Atlanta,  followed  by  the 
Union  troops.  After  some  days'  skirmishing,  the 
Army  of  the  Tennessee  came  in  sight  of  Atlanta, 
and  without  the  knowledge  of  General  Sherman 
was  attacked  by  the  Confederates  with  a  heavy 
force  after  it  had  crossed  Peach  Tree  Creek. 
Soon  after  the  battle  commenced,  General  Logan, 
fighting  at  one  moment  on  one  side  of  his  works 
an4  the  next  moment  on  the  other,  was  informed 


5  8  8  GENERA  L  JOHN  A.  L  O  CAN. 

of  the  death,  in  another  part  of  the  field,  of  the 
beloved  General  McPherson.  Assuming-  tempo 
rary  command,  General  Logan  rode  up  and  down 
his  lines,  bareheaded,  his  long  black  hair  stream 
ing  in  the  wind,  his  service-worn  slouch  hat  swing 
ing  in  his  bridle  hand,  and  his  sword  flashing  in 
the  other,  shouting :  "  Boys  !  McPherson  and  re 
venge  !"  His  daring  bravery,  amid  showers  of 
whistling  bullets  and  screeching  shells,  inspired 
the  troops,  who  seven  successive  times  met  and 
repulsed  that  number  of  assaults.  Eight  thousand 
rebel  dead  left  upon  the  field  at  nightfall  bore 
mute  witness  to  their  love  for  their  fallen  chief 
and  the  bravery  of  his  successor. 

General  Sherman,  in  his  official  report  of  the 
battle,  after  mentioning  the  death  of  General 
McPherson,  said:  "  His  sudden  death  devolved 
the  command  of  the  Army  of  the  Tennessee  on 
the  no  less  brave  and  gallant  General  Logan,  who 
nobly  sustained  his  reputation  and  that  of  his 
veteran  army,  and  avenged  the  death  of  his  com 
rade  and  commander." 


CHAPTER  IX. 

THE  VOLUNTEER — EZRA  CHAPEL — THE  CHAMPION 
OF  THE  UNION. 

GENERAL  LOGAN  was  justly  entitled  to 
the  command  of  the  Army  of  the  Ten 
nessee  after  the  death  of  General  Mo 
Pherson,  but  West  Point  influence  induced 
General  Sherman  to  recommend  instead  General 
O.  O.  Howard.  General  Hooker  (who  had 
hardly  been  mentioned  in  connection  with  the 
position)  was  so  angry  because  he  had  not  re 
ceived  it  that  he  asked  to  be  relieved  from  duty, 
not  wishing  to  serve  under  General  Howard. 
But  General  Logan  quietly  resumed  the  command 
of  the  Fourteenth  Corps,  endeared  to  him  by  rec 
ollections  of  many  a  hard-fought  field.  This 
showed  his  genuine  loyalty,  his  unselfish  patriot 
ism,  and  his  desire  to  magnanimously  give  his 
whole  energy  and  strength  to  the  Union  cause 
wherever  he  might  be  placed,  without  indulging  in 
arrogant  pretensions. 

Resuming  command  of  the  Fourteenth  Corps, 
General  Logan  was  engaged  on  the  29th  of  July 
at  Ezra  Chapel  in  a  sharp  fight,  which  General 
Howard  left  to  his  direction.  The  losses  on  both 

591 


592  GENERAL  JO  UN  A.  LO  CAN. 

sides  were  heavy,  but  after  repeated  assaults  the 
Confederates  retreated,  leaving  five  battle  flags, 
two  thousand  muskets,  and  two  hundred  prison 
ers,  some  of  them  badly  wounded.  General  How 
ard,  in  transmitting  General  Logan's  report,  added: 
"  I  wish  to  express  my  high  gratification  with  the 
conduct  of  the  troops  engaged.  I  never  saw  bet 
ter  conduct  in  battle.  General  Logan,  though  ill 
and  much  worn  out,  was  indefatigable,  and  the 
success  of  the  day  is  as  much  attributable  to  him 
as  to  any  one  man." 

On  the  2d  of  September,  Atlanta,  "  the  gate  city 
from  the  North  and  West  to  the  Southeast,"  was 
occupied  by  the  Union  troops,  who  soon  after 
ward  went  into  summer  quarters  for  rest  and  re 
organization.  General  Logan,  in  an  order 
reviewing  the  campaign,  said  to  his  command  : 

"  You  have  marched  during  the  campaign,  in 
your  windings,  the  distance  of  four  hundred  miles  ; 
have  put  hors  de  combat  more  of  the  enemy  than 
your  corps  numbers  ;  have  captured  twelve  stands 
of  arms,  two  thousand  four  hundred  and  fifty 
prisoners,  and  two  hundred  and  ten  deserters. 
The  course  of  your  march  is  marked  by  the 
graves  of  patriotic  heroes  who  have  fallen  by 
your  side  ;  but,  at  the  same  time,  it  is  more  plainly 
marked  by  the  blood  of  traitors  who  have  defied 
the  Constitution  and  laws,  insulted  and  trampled 
under  foot  the  glorious  flag  of  our  country.  We 
deeply  sympathize  with  the  friends  of  those  of  our 


THE  VOLUNTEER— EZRA  CHAPEL. 

comrades-in-arms  who  have  fallen  ;  our  sorrows 
are  only  appeased  by  the  knowledge  that  they  fell 
as  brave  men,  battling  for  the  preservation  and 
perpetuation  of  one  of  the  best  governments  of 
earth.  '  Peace  be  to  their  ashes.'  ' 

The  Union  armies  had  battled  at  the  front, 
crushing  out  rebellion  by  gallant  deeds,  but 
meanwhile  stay-at-home  foes  were  starting  "a  fire 
in  the  rear,"  secret  political  societies  were  creat 
ing  dissensions  and  discords  amounting  to  trea 
son  ;  orators  and  presses  were  counseling  a 
resistance  to  the  draft,  and  Confederate  emissaries 
lived  on  the  margin  of  disobedience  to  the  laws. 

o 

General  Logan,  when  the  army  halted  at  Atlanta, 
was  induced  to  return  to  Illinois,  where  he  ad 
dressed  large  assemblies  on  the  political  situation. 
Coming  from  the  scenes  of  his  fame,  and  almost 
bringing  the  smell  of  gunpowder  on  his  gar 
ments,  he  inspired  his  hearers  with  his  own  confi 
dence  that  God  would  give  success  to  the  Union 
arms.  Kindling  within  their  breast  the  same  patri 
otic  fires  which  lighted  up  his  own  heart,  he  in 
spired  them  with  a  spirit  of  energetic  determina 
tion  to  sustain  the  Union  cause  and  to  re-elect 
Abraham  Lincoln  to  the  Presidential  chair. 

The  secrecy  observed  by  General  Sherman  in 
starting  on  his  "  March  to  the  Sea "  prevented 
General  Logan  from  joining  his  command,  and  he 
subsequently  reported  to  General  Grant  at  City 
Point  for  orders.  He  reached  there  when  Gen- 


594          GENERA L  JOHN  A.  LOGAN. 

eral  Grant  was  annoyed  because  General  Thomas 
had  not  assaulted  Nashville,  having  been  delayed 
by  storms  of  rain,  which  froze  as  it  fell,  covering 
the  earth  with  ice  upon  which  neither  man  nor 
beast  could  stand.  An  order  removing  General 
Thomas  telegraphed  to  Washington  not  having 
been  promulgated,  General  Grant  ordered  Gen 
eral  Logan  to  proceed  at  once  to  Nashville  and 
await  orders.  His  instructions  contemplated  his 
relieving  General  Thomas  if  on  his  arrival  no 
attack  had  been  made  upon  Hood.  Here  was  a 
most  brilliant  position  offered — that  of  com 
mander  of  the  Army  of  the  Cumberland,  just  as 
it  had  been  reorganized  and  put  in  order  of  bat 
tle,  and  stood  in  its  trenches  ready  for  the  word 
to  advance.  Had  ambition  alone  actuated  him, 
here  was  the  opportunity  of  a  lifetime  of  active 
service.  But  instead  of  obeying  the  spirit  of  his 
instructions  he  proceeded  with  such  deliberation 
as  to  prove  beyond  room  for  cavil  that  selfish  am 
bition  was  not  his  governing  motive.  Appreciating 
the  situation,  he  journeyed  to  his  new  post  with 
out  undue  haste.  The  thaw  came  at  last!  Gen 
eral  Thomas  was  able  to  move  on  the  enemy's 
works,  and  General  Logan,  telegraphing  the  suc 
cess  of  the  Army  of  the  Cumberland,  requested 
that  he  might  be  ordered  to  his  beloved  Four 
teenth  Corps.  This  was  another  proof  of  his 
honorable  regard  for  others  rather  than  a  thirst 
for  self-aggrandizement. 


THE   VOLUNTEER— EZRA   CHAPEL. 

Joining  the  Fourteenth  Corps  at  Savannah,  Gen 
eral  Logan  led  it  in  the  march  through  the  Caro- 
linas.  At  Edisto,  on  the  Saluda,  and  on  the  Great 
Pedee  the  corps  sustained  its  reputation  that  it 
"never  met  the  enemy  but  to  strike  and  destroy 
him."  It  was  among  the  foremost  troops  in  Col 
umbia,  where  it  worked  hard  to  extinguish  the 
flames  kindled  by  the  Confederates  before  they 
had  left  the  city.  "I  saw,"  said  General  Sherman 
in  his  report/' Generals  Howard,  Logan,  and  others 
laboring  to  save  houses  and  protect  families  thus 
suddenly  deprived  of  shelter  and  of  bedding  and 
wearing  apparel.  We  saved  what  of  Columbia 
remains  unconsumed." 

Marching  northward  through  the  Carolinas, 
General  Logan  participated  in  the  surrender  of 
General  Johnson,  and  arrived  with  his  command 
at  Washington  City,  to  head  with  his  corps  the 
Division  of  the  Mississippi  when  it  made  its  tri 
umphant  appearance  for  final  review  by  President 
Johnson  on  the  24th  of  May,  1865.  Alas!  that 
the  much  loved  President  Lincoln  could  not  have 
been  present  to  have  rendered  that  martial 
pageant  complete !  The  Army  of  the  Potomac, 
which  had  been  reviewed  the  day  previous,  was 
familiar  to  the  people  of  Washington,  but  they 
knew  little  personally  of  the  Division  of  the  Mis 
sissippi.  They  had  heard,  however,  of  their  heroic 
acts — flanking  strongholds,  storming  hostile  works, 
making  gallant  charges,  marching  in  triumph 


GENERAL  JOHN  A.  LOGAN. 

through  every  insurgent  State  east  of  the  Missis 
sippi,  and  sweeping  around  like  a  cyclone  to  the 
capital  of  the  Confederacy,  literally  crushing  slav 
ery,  secession,  and  State-rights.  General  Sher 
man,  on  reaching  the  reviewing  stand,  dismounted 
and  paid  his  respects  to  President  Johnson,  leav 
ing  General  Logan  at  the  head  of  the  stalwart, 
weather-browned  veterans,  who  had  been  led  by 
him  from  victory  to  victory  to  glory  and  to  final 
triumph.  "He  rode  with  light  of  battle  in  his 
face,"  receiving  shouts  of  applause  that  must  have 
made  his  heart  leap,  and  feeling  that  justice  had 
at  last  been  done  him,  as  he  had  been  promoted 
that  morning  to  the  command  of  the  Army  of  the 
Tennessee. 


CHAPTER  X. 

CIVIL  LIFE — THE  REPRESENTATIVE  IN   CONGRESS. 

WHEN  the  troops  of  Illinois  "  came 
marching  home,"  crowned  with  laurels, 
the  voters  of  General  Logan's  Con 
gressional  district,  who  had  seen  with  pride  upon 
the  battle-flags  the  record  of  his  victories,  insisted 
upon  inscribing  his  name  upon  their  political  ban 
ner.  He  declined  the  appointment  as  minister  to 
Mexico,  tendered  him  in  1865  by  President  John 
son,  but  he  accepted  the  nomination  of  the  Repub 
licans  of  Illinois  as  their  candidate  for  Representa- 
tive-at-large  in  Congress.  He  received  203,045 
votes  against  147,058  votes  for  Mr.  Dickey,  a 
Democrat.  Going  to  Washington,  accompanied 
by  Mrs.  Logan,  to  take  his  seat  in  the  Fortieth 
Congress,  General  Logan  lived  in  the  same  unos 
tentatious  way  that  he  had  observed  before  the 
war.  No  one  could  see  any  assumption  of  supe 
riority  on  his  part,  founded  on  the  fact  that  he  was 
the  only  citizen  who  had  volunteered  as  a  private, 
risen  to  the  rank  of  major-general,  and  success 
fully  commanded  an  army  in  the  field.  Yet  he 
had  a  new  class  of  constituents,  not  only  from 
Illinois,  but  from  every  section  of  the  Union — 

597 


5 9 8  GENERAL  JOHN  A.  LOGAN. 

soldiers  who  wore  the  blue  and  soldiers  who  wore 
the  gray — and  he  has  invariably  made  their  wants 
his  cause.  Claims  for  pensions,  for  supplies  fur 
nished  Union  troops,  for  bounties,  and  for  aid  have 
always  received  his  careful  attention,  although 
they  have  often  required  investigations  at  the 
executive  departments,  the  taking  of  testimony, 
the  identification  of  the  claimants,  a  large  expendi 
ture  of  time,  and  often  of  money  never  to  be 
repaid.  A  true  friend  of  the  soldiers,  General 
Logan  has  never  failed  to  urge  their  claims  before 
Congress,  and  much  of  the  liberal  legislation 
which  has  cheered  the  last  years  of  thousands  of 
maimed  and  battle-worn  veterans  was  originated 
and  carried  through  Congress  by  his  personal 
exertions.  He  has  not  been  a  scrambler  for 
executive  patronage,  but  it  has  ever  been  his 
pride  and  his  pleasure  to  secure  appointments — 
civil,  military,  or  naval — for  those  who  served 
honorably  in  the  war. 

Early  in  the  first  session  of  this  Congress, 
General  Logan,  learning  that  there  was  an  organi 
zation  formed  in  this  country  for  the  invasion  of 
the  Republic  of  Mexico,  and  the  overthrow  of  its 
government,  introduced  a  resolution  into  the 
House  declaring  such  attempts  to  violate  the 
neutrality  laws  at  variance  with  the  wishes  and 
feelino-s  of  all  £Ood  citizens  of  the  United 

£>  o 

States.  The  resolution,  which  the  House  promptly 
passed,  directed  the  President,  in  case  he  should 


THE  REPRESENTATIVE  IN  CONGRESS. 

be  satisfied  of  the  existence  of  such  organi 
zations,  to  issue  his  proclamation  commanding 
the  execution  of  the  laws,  and  warning  all  persons 
who  might  depart  from  the  United  States  for  the 
purpose  of  invading  the  Republic  of  Mexico  or 
any  other  country,  or  creating  any  disturbance 
therein,  that  they  would  thereby  forfeit  all  rights 
to  protection  under  the  laws  of  the  United  States. 

Congress  had  been  convened,  by  a  special  law, 
on  the  4th  of  March,  that  the  question  of  recon 
struction  might  not  be  left  in  the  hands  of  the 
President,  who  was  defying  the  legislative  depart 
ment  of  the  Government,  yet  in  a  few  weeks  a 
resolution  was  introduced  providing  for  an  ad 
journment  until  December.  This  General  Logan 
opposed,  saying,  as  he  concluded  his  remarks : 
"  Shall  we  place  ourselves  before  the  country  as 
if  enacting  a  farce?  Did  we  assemble  here  to 
place  ourselves  in  that  ridiculous  attitude  before 
the  country,  as  a  set  of  men  without  backbone 
enough  to  do  that  which  we  called  ourselves  to 
gether  to  do  ?" 

On  another  occasion  General  Logan  urged  the 
reference  to  the  Committee  on  Indian  Affairs  of  a 
joint  resolution  for  the  payment  of  Choctaw  and 
Chickasaw  Indian  claims.  It  had  been  passed  by 
the  Senate  and  an  attempt  was  made  to  hurry  it 
through  the  House,  but  General  Logan  presented 
a  statement  from  the  chief  of  the  tribe  showing 
that  while  the  loyal  Choctaws  had  suffered  severe 


600  GENERAL  JOHN  A.  LOGAN. 

losses  by  the  Rebellion,  no  thoroughly  loyal  man 
had  presented  a  claim  for  damages.  "  If  these 
things  are  true,"  said  General  Logan, "  then  these 
claims  should  not  be  paid.  And  if  the  gentleman 
advocating  them  does  not  know  of  their  falsity, 
then  that  is  a  good  reason  why  this  bill  should  be 
referred  to  a  committee."  The  House  referred  it. 

As  the  close  of  the  session  approached  a  reso 
lution  was  introduced  authorizing  the  publication 
of  speeches  in  the  Congressional  Globe  after  the 
adjournment.  To  this  General  Logan  objected. 
"  I  suggest,"  said  he,  "  that  all  speeches  which  are 
handed  in  prior  to  the  adjournment  might  be 
printed.  But  the  proposition  to  give  gentlemen 
an  opportunity  of  going  home  and  writing  out 
answers  to  speeches  made  in  the  House  and  pub 
lishing  them  in  the  Congressional  Globe  is  cer 
tainly,  in  my  estimation,  very  objectionable.  If 
gentlemen  will  give  me  an  opportunity  to  go 
home  and  write  a  speech  in  reply  to  some  already 
published  I  may  malign  and  libel  a  member  as 
much  as  I  have  a  mind  to  and  there  is  no  reply  to 
it.  If  speeches  are  to  be  printed  they  should  at 
least  be  presented  and  printed  in  the  Globe  while 
Congress  is  in  session,  so  that  if  there  is  any  at 
tack  or  misstatement  it  might  be  replied  to  before 
the  adjournment  of  Congress." 

General  Logan  spoke  at  some  length  on  re-, 
construction.  He  declared  that  the  Union  sol 
diers  never  dreamt  that  for  every  rebel  they  killed 


THE  REPRESENTATIVE  IN  CONGRESS. 

at  the  South  they  were  making  an  enemy  at  the 
North,  now  that  the  brave  men  who  fought  them, 
and  whom  they  had  to  literally  overwhelm  before 
they  could  conquer  them,  were  ready  to  for 
get  the  past  and  be  friends,  as  we  all  ought  to  be 
again.  In  conclusion  he  said:  "I  have  seen  quite 
enough  of  carnage  and  private  and  national  dis 
tress,  and  long  to  see  the  day  come  again  when 
we  shall  be  as  peaceful,  prosperous,  and  happy  as 
we  were  before  that  crawling  serpent,  Secession, 
sought  to  strangle  us  in  our  national  cradle.  That 
day  may  soon  come  again  if  the  South  will  rise 
up  sternly  resolved  that  they  will  follow  Naaman 
through  the  Jordan  of  repentance  until  the  leprosy 
of  treason  and  Democracy  shall  be  washed  out  of 
their  political  system.  How  much  they  have  been 
benefited  by  the  sympathies  of  the  Democracy 
they  ought  by  this  time  to  be  able  to  estimate  and 
appreciate.  The  hour  they  discover  they  possess 
the  good  sense  and  courage  to  repudiate  openly 
and  emphatically  treason  and  embrace  warmly 
and  sincerely  loyalty,  they  will  see  dawn  upon 
them  the  bright  morning  of  their  regeneration  and 
deliverance." 

When  the  Army  of  the  Tennessee  was  home 
ward  bound,  its  principal  officers  organized  in 
the  Senate  Chamber  of  the  capital  at  Raleigh, 
North  Carolina,  a  society  to  "keep  alive  and  pre 
serve  that  kindly  and  cordial  feeling  which  had 
been  one  of  the  characteristics  of  that  army  during 


6o 2  GENERA L  JOHN  A.  LOGAN. 

its  glorious  career."  At  the  first  election  of  offi 
cers,  General  Rawlins  was  chosen  President  and 
General  Logan  the  First  Vice-President,  and  he 
has  always  manifested  a  great  interest  in  its  an 
nual  meetings.  General  Logan  was  also  the  first 
Commander-in-Chief  of  the  Grand  Army  of  the 
Republic,  an  organization  which  has  since  placed 
on  its  rolls  a  large  majority  of  the  surviving  vol 
unteer  soldiery  of  the  United  States,  bound  by 
the  triple  bond  of  Union — "  Fraternity,  Charity, 
and  Loyalty," 


CHAPTER  XL 

THE  LEGISLATOR — THE  MANAGER  OF  IMPEACH 
MENT. 

AT  the  second  session  of  the  Fortieth  Con 
gress,  General  Logan  was  reappointed 
chairman  of  a  joint  Committee  on  Ord 
nance,  which,  as  he  remarked,  had  been  sitting 
with  open  doors,  and  had  disclosed  the  existence 
of  great  frauds  perpetrated  on  the  Government  in 
contracts.  He  also  asserted  "  that  more  of  our 
own  men  were  killed  in  the  late  war  by  our  own 
ammunition,  fired  from  our  own  light  and  heavy 
field-pieces,  than  were  killed  by  the  heavy  and 
light  artillery  of  the  enemy.  Guns  are  made  to-day 
for  the  use  of  the  army  and  navy  that  are  the  in 
vention  of  some  men  directly  connected  with  one 
or  the  other  of  these  departments.  Indeed,  no 
other  men  can  have  an  opportunity  of  getting  such 
contracts." 

A  bill  having  been  introduced  for  the  employ 
ment  of  additional  clerks  for  the  settlement  of 
bounty  claims,  General  Logan  offered  a  substitute 
providing  that  preference  should  be  given  to 
soldiers  and  sailors  who  had  served  faithfully. 
His  reason  for  urging  this,  as  he  frankly  gave  it, 

603 


604  GENERA L  JOHN  A.  LOGAN. 

was,  "  I  know  that  if  soldiers  and  sailors  are  em 
ployed  as  clerks  they  will  feel  more  interest  in 
performing  that  duty  for  the  benefit  of  their 
former  comrades  who  have  been  with  them  in 
arms,  than  will  others  who  have  not  the  same 
sympathy  with  or  feeling  for  them  that  they  have 
with  and  for  each  other." 

One  of  the  Illinois  Democrats  having  extended 

o 

a  few  remarks  into  a  long  and  labored  attack 
upon  the  Republican  party,  before  putting  it  in 
print  General  Logan  called  him  to  account.  In 
attempting  to  defend  himself,  the  member  cast 
some  personal  reflections  on  General  Logan,  who 
promptly  replied  :  "  In  regard  to  what  my  col 
league  has  said  about  his  being  a  gentleman  I 
have  nothing  to  say.  I  do  not  desire  to  reply  to 
insinuations  made  in  such  bitterness  and  coming 

o 

from  the  lips  of  a  gentleman  so  highly  cultivated 
that  he  can  insinuate  here  that  I  am  an  illiterate 
man.  I  desire  not  to  say  anything  to  affect  the 
honesty,  the  moral  integrity,  or  the  personal 
standing  of  any  gentleman  who  stands  so  high 
that  he  can  cast  an  insinuation  of  that  kind  upon 
a  colleague  in  this  House.  True  it  is,  I  was  not 
educated  in  any  of  the  higher  colleges,  nor  was 
my  colleague.  I  was  educated,  however,  in  a 
town  that  had  church  steeples.  Whether  my  col 
league  can  say  as  much  is  for  him  to  answer.  I 
do  not  claim  that  I  am  one  of  the  highly  educated 
gentlemen  of  this  House  ;  I  claim  no  such  thing. 


THE  MANAGER  OF  IMPEACHMENT. 

But  I  will  say  to  my  colleague  that  he,  with  his 
own  knowledge  of  his  own  abilities  and  erudition, 
should  be  the  last  man  to  insinuate  anything 
against  the  education  or  abilities  of  any  man  on 
this  floor." 

In  the  reduction  of  the  army,  General  Logan 
claimed  that  a  fair  share  of  the  officers  appointed 
from  the  volunteers  should  be  retained.  "  Sir," 
said  he,  "  four  years  of  experience  in  the  field  is 
worth  four  years  of  experience  within  the  walls  of 
West  Point.  I  insist  that  those  civilians  who  have 
served  in  the  army  shall  have  the  same  rights  and 
privileges  under  our  legislation  as  these  West 
Point  men,  who  have  been  protected,  fostered,  and 
sustained  by  every  law  Congress  has  passed  in 
regard  to  this  subject.  The  people  of  the  country 
do  not  understand  that  an  officer  of  the  army  has 
an  inalienable  right  to  hold  on  to  his  commission  as 
long  as  life  lasts — with  more  tenacity,  apparently, 
sometimes,  than  ordinary  men  adhere  to  it." 

General  Logan  was  chosen  by  the  House  of 
Representatives  one  of  the  Managers  to  impeach 
President  Andrew  Johnson  for  high  crimes  and 
misdemeanors  and  to  conduct  his  trial.  His  ar 
guments  during  the  trial  displayed  legal  research 
and  a  thorough  acquaintance  with  the  constitu 
tional  powers  and  prerogatives  of  the  President 
of  the  United  States.  He  reviewed  the  evidence 
sustaining  the  charges  in  the  articles  of  impeach 
ment,  and  demonstrated  that  the  President  had 


506          GENERAL  JOHN  A.  LOGAN. 

been  false  to  the  people  who  had  taken  him  from 
obscurity  and  conferred  on  him  high  distinction, 
false  to  the  memory  of  him  whose  death  made 
him  President,  false  to  the  principles  of  our  con 
test  for  national  life,  false  to  the  Constitution  and 
laws  of  the  land,  and  false  to  his  oath  of  office. 
In  concluding  his  eloquent  arraignment  he  said  that 
he  was  "overwhelmed  with  emotion.  Memory 
is  busy  with  the  scenes  of  the  years  which  have 
intervened  between  March  4th,  1861,  and  this  day. 
Our  great  war,  its  battles,  and  ten  thousand  inci 
dents,  without  mental  bidding  and  beyond  control, 
almost  pass  in  panoramic  view  before  me.  As  in 
the  presence  of  those  whom  I  have  seen  fall  in 
battle  as  we  rushed  to  victory,  or  die  of  wounds 
or  disease  in  hospital  far  from  home  and  the  loved 
ones,  to  be  seen  no  more  until  the  grave  gives  up 
its  dead,  have  I  endeavored  to  discharge  my  hum 
ble  part  in  this  great  trial/' 

General  Logan  was  also  actively  engaged  at  this 
session  in  the  discussion  of  the  appropriation  bills, 
of  the  funding  bills,  of  the  tax  bill,  of  the  bill 
granting  pensions  to  the  soldiers  of  1812,  of  the 
bill  for  the  purchase  ©f  Alaska,  and  of  other  im 
portant  public  measures.  Once  he  spoke  at 
length  on  the  principles  of  the  Democratic  party, 
asserting  that  the  Democratic  platform  is  a 
"  whited  sepulchre,  full  of  dead  men's  bones;" 
and  saying:  "It  is  a  monument  which  is  intended 
to  hide  decay  and  conceal  corruption.  Like  many 


THE  MANAGER  OF  IMPEACHMENT. 

other  monuments,  it  attracts  attention  by  its  vast 
proportions  and  excites  disgust  by  the  falsity  of 
its  inscriptions.  The  casual  observer,  knowing1 
nothing  of  the  previous  life  of  the  deceased,  who 
reads  this  eulogy  upon  the  tomb,  might  imagine 
that  all  the  virtues,  the  intellect,  and  the  genius  of 
the  age  were  buried  there.  But  to  him  who 

o 

knows  that  the  life  had  been  a  living  lie,  an  inces 
sant  pursuit  of  base  ends,  the  stone  is  a  mockery 
and  the  panegyric  a  fable.  It  is  my  purpose  to 
show,  sir,  that  this  Democratic  platform  is  mock 
ery  of  the  past,  and  that  its  promises  for  the 
future  are  hollow,  evasive,  and  fabulous;  that  it 
disregards  the  sanctities  of  truth  and  deals  only 
in  the  language  of  the  juggler.  It  is  like  the 
words  of  the  weird  witches,  who  wrought  a  noble 
nature  to  crime  and  ruin,  and  then,  in  the  hour  of 
dire  extremity— 

'Kept  the  word  of  promise  to  the  ear 
•  And  broke  it  to  the  hope. '  " 

At  the  short  closing  session  of  the  Fortieth 
Congress,  General  Logan  continued  his  interest 
in  the  questions  which  he  had  previously  supported 
or  opposed,  especially  the  operations  of  the  pen 
sion  laws  and  the  bill  to  strengthen  the  public 
credit.  He  was  not  in  favor  of  a  bill  retaining 
officials  in  office,  as  he  considered  it  class  legisla 
tion,  and  he  spoke  at  length  against  granting  sub 
sidies  to  the  Denver  Pacific  Railroad.  "  Sir,"  said 
General  Logan,  on  the  latter  point,  "  I  am  in  favor 


508  GENERAL  JOHN  A.  LOGAN. 

of  the  great  march  of  improvement,  of  civilization, 
and  a  general  development  of  all  the  wealth  and 
resources  of  this  country.  But,  sir,  that  is  no 
reason  why,  as  a  representative  of  my  constituents, 
I  should  stand  by  and  see  the  Treasury  every  day 
growing  leaner  and  leaner  by  the  inroads  made 
upon  it  by  these  railroad  and  other  corporations. 
I  am  not  willing  to  do  it.  I  say  to  my  friends  in 
this  House ;  I  say  to  my  Republican  friends— 
although  I  do  not  regard  this  as  a  political  mea 
sure  by  any  means — that  we  pledged  ourselves 
to  our  constituents  in  the  convention  that  nomina 
ted  our  President-elect  that  economy  should  be 
our  watchword.  If  we  are  true  to  the  men  that 
elected  us  we  shall  stand  by  that  pledge  to-day." 


CHAPTER  XII. 

THE  LEGISLATOR — THE  GRAND  ARMY. 

GENERAL  GRANT  was  inaugurated  Pres 
ident  on  the  4th  of  March,  1869,  and  on 
that  day  General  Logan  took  his  seat  in 
the  House  of  Representatives,  having  been  re- 
elected  as  a  member-at-large  from  Illinois  by  a 
splendid  majority.  On  the  first  day  of  the  session 
he  aided  in  the  election  of  James  G.  Elaine  for 
Speaker,  and  a  few  clays  later  he  was  appointed 
chairman  of  the  Committee  on  Military  Affairs. 
The  reduction  of  the  army  had  not  been  completed, 
and  General  Logan  diligently  continued  the  work, 
lopping  off  supernumerary  staff  officers,  retrench 
ing  unnecessary  expenses,  yet  providing  for  the  en 
listed  men  and  protecting  the  colored  veterans 
against  the  swindling  claim  agents. 

General  Logan  also  looked  after  the  interests 
of  bis  constituents  as  affected  by  proposed  tax 
legislation  and  boldly  denounced  those  engaged 
in  robbing  the  Government.  "  Gentlemen,"  said 
he,  " are  always  talking  here  about  a  'Whisky 
Ring;'  but  one-half  of  them  do  not  know  what 
that  phrase  means.  I  will  tell  what  it  means.  It 
means  an  association  of  whisky  men  leagued  to- 

609 


5 1  o  GENERA  L  JOHN  A.  LOG  A  JV. 

gether  in  a  secret  organization,  with  a  president, 
with  an  attorney,  with  agents  sent  here  to  this 
Congress ;  and  the  members  of  this  association 
subscribe  money,  not  for  the  purpose  of  hiring 
anybody,  not  for  any  declared  object,  but  they 
subscribe  money,  which  their  attorney  and  agents 
take ;  and  they  never  know  what  becomes  of  the 
money.  I  made  an  investigation  of  this  matter 
when  I  was  a  member  of  the  Committee  of  Ways 
and  Means,  and  I  know  what  I  state.  The  very 
same  association  of  men  by  whom  this  is  done 
are  the  men  who  are  to-day  demanding  that 
this  proposition  shall  be  passed.  And  if  this 
measure  be  adopted  it  will  be  in  the  interest  of 
the  same  rotten  'ring'  that  has  already  robbed  the 
Government  of  millions  of  dollars." 

General  Logan  opposed  retiring  a  colonel  in 
the  regular  army,  who  had  at  one  time  during 
the  war  commanded  a  division,  with  the  rank  and 
pension  of  a  major-general.  He  did  not  believe 
that  the  regular  army  officers  assigned  to  gene 
rals'  command  at  the  first  battle  of  Bull  Run 
should  all  be  retired  with  that  rank. 

At  the  second  session  of  the  Forty-first  Con 
gress  General  Logan  took  an  active  part  in  break 
ing  up  the  existing  practice  in  which  some 
Representatives  had  indulged  of  selling  their 
rights  to  appoint  cadets  at  West  Point.  In 
one  of  these  cases  where  a  Representative  had 
asked  and  received  five  hundred  dollars  for 


THE  LEGISLATOR— THE  GRAND  ARMY.  £j  j 

appointing  a  young  man  resident  in  a  dis 
tant  State  as  a  cadet  from  his  district  a 
good  deal  of  sympathy  was  manifested  for  the 
offender.  General  Butler,  who  was  his  personal 
friend,  defended  him  with  his  well-known  legal 
ability,  but  General  Logan  was  inexorable.  "What 
we  shall  do,"  said  he,  "  will  not  be  done  in  any 
spirit  of  ill-feeling  or  revenge,  or  from  a  desire  to 
punish  any  man,  but  because  we  are  impelled  by 
a  sense  of  justice,  by  a  sense  of  propriety,  by  a 
determination  which  should  be  felt  by  every  offi 
cer  of  the  Government  to  perform  our  duty  faith 
fully,  without  fear,  favor,  or  reward,  or  the  hope 
of  promise  thereof.  Charity  should  find  no  home, 
mercy  find  no  proper  abiding  place,  leniency  no 
place  of  rest  where  justice  may  thereby  be  thwarted. 
Justice  claims  the  highest  place  in  the  mind 
and  heart  of  every  man  ;  and  it  claims  the  right 
to  have  judgments,  though  tempered  with  leniency 
and  charity,  based  upon  a  legal  and  proper  basis." 
The  guilty  member  was  expelled  by  a  vote  of  187 
yeas,  no  nays,  and  35  absent  or  not  voting. 

General  Logan  was  also  prominent  during  this 
session  in  advocating  legislation  opposing  poly 
gamy,  on  the  revival  of  American  navigation,  on 
the  Southern  contested  election  cases,  on  the  ap 
propriation  bills,  and  especially  on  the  reduction  of 
the  army.  He  showed  the  great  abuses  that  had 
sprung  up  during  the  war,  and  demonstrated  that 
the  saving  effected  by  the  bill  reported  by  him  by 


6 1  2  GENERAL  JOHN  A.  LOGAN. 

reducing  extra  pay  and  emoluments  would  be 
about  three  millions  of  dollars.  He  declared  that 
Congress  should  do  justice  to  the  army,  but  that 
at  the  same  time  it  should  "do  justice  to  its  own 
constituents — to  the  people  who  pay  the  taxes  of 
this  country." 

"  Congress,"  said  he,  "  has  been  looked  upon, 
it  seems,  heretofore  as  merely  the  recorders  of 
the  edicts  of  the  heads  of  army  bureaus  in  refer 
ence  to  matters  of  this  kind.  Let  it  be  under 
stood  that  intelligent  and  just  action  is  all  that 
can  be  demanded  of  Congress,  and  that  bluster 
and  denunciation  of  proper  action  is  at  a  dis 
count,  while  the  exercise  of  sound  judgment  and 
a  due  respect  for  the  interest  of  the  whole  peo 
ple,  who  make  and  unmake  officers  of  all  classes, 
is  at  a  premium." 

At  the  third  session  of  the  Forty-first  Congress 
General  Locran  interested  himself  in  securing  the 

o  o 

passage  of  a  bill  giving  homesteads  to  honorably 
discharged  soldiers.  The  issue  of  land  warrants, 
he  said,  would  benefit  officers,  and  they  would 
find  their  way  into  the  hands  of  speculators.  But 
he  wished  the  private  soldier  to  receive  a  home 
as  a  patrimony  for  his  patriotism.  He  carefully 
scrutinized  a  bill  extending  certain  privileges  to 
corporations,  which  he  thought  might  exempt  them 
from  accountability  to  State  laws  ;  he  advocated 
the  abolition  of  the  office  of  admiral,  made  vacant 
by  the  death  of  the  gallant  Farragut ;  he  opposed 


THE  LEGISLATOR— THE  GRAND  ARMY.  ^{  ~> 

the  raising  of  bodies  of  "rangers"  for  Indian  hos 
tilities  independent  of  the  army,  and  he  discussed 
a  bill  restoring  three  cadets  who  had  been  dis 
missed  from  the  military  academy  at  West  Point, 
uro-inof  the  House  to  re-examine  the  case. 

&          c5 

"  Let  us,"  said  he,  "  be  controlled  by  the  facts 
and  governed  by  an  honest  judgment.  Let  us 
not  be  influenced  as  to  who  are  the  fathers  and 
relatives  of  these  young  men.  One  of  these 
young  men  who  is  mentioned  as  having  taken  a 
part  in  this  transaction  is  a  young  man  who  was 
appointed  by  myself.  He  is  a  relative  of  my 
family.  His  people  are  my  neighbors.  His  father 
was  a  gallant  soldier  and  served  under  me  during 
the  war.  Notwithstanding  all  this  I  have  a  duty 
to  perform,  and  that  duty  as  an  officer  of  this 
country  I  shall  perform.  No  personal  or  politi 
cal  considerations  shall  influence  me  in  the  per 
formance  of  my  sworn  duty." 

The  National  Encampment  of  the  Grand  Army 
of  the  Republic,  which  held  its  fourth  annual  ses 
sion  at  Washington  on  the  I2th  of  May,  1870,  re- 
elected  General  Logan  as  Commander-in-Chief. 
In  his  annual  address  he  urged  the  establishment 
of  Memorial  Day,  to  be  observed  by  fitting  honor 
to  those  who  died  that  their  country  might  live. 
Repudiating  the  charge  that  the  Grand  Army  was 
a  political  association,  he  declared  that  its  only 
political  creed  was  "the  love  of  our  country  and 
its  hallowed  institutions." 


6 1  4  GENERA L  JOHN  A.  LO GA N. 

In  May,  1871,  the  National  Encampment  of  the 
Grand  Army  met  at  Boston,  and  at  a  banquet 
given  there  General  Logan  said  :  "  While  organi 
zations  of  officers  were  formed  for  keeping  up  fra 
ternal  relations,  it  was  asked:  'Where  shall  the 
one-legged  soldiers  meet  ?  Where  shall  the  lame, 
the  maimed,and  the  disabled  assemble  ?'  And  the 
same  voice  said :  4  Where  is  my  widow  ?  Where 
are  my  orphans  ?  Who  is  there  to  protect  them, 
to  heal  the  wounds  of  their  spirit  ?  This  voice 
was  answered  first  by  a  soldier  poor  and  weak  in 
body,  but  with  a  great  mind.  He  spoke  to  many, 
and  I  was  one  of  them,  of  forming  an  organization 
where  soldiers  could  meet  and  by  joint  effort  extend 
the  hand  of  charity  to  the  widow  and  the  orphan. 
This  soldier,  with  the  assistance  of  several  others, 
drafted  the  by-laws  and  constitution  for  the  Grand 
Army  of  the  Republic.  The  order  was  organized 
in  Springfield,  Illinois,  and  the  name  of  the  orig 
inator  is  Dr.  Stevenson.  The  organization  has 
gone  on  to  the  present  clay  ;  it  has  taken  into  its 
ranks  the  officers  of  each  of  the  Grand  Armies  of 
the  Union  ;  it  receives  every  soldier  who  has  an 
honorable  discharge,  from  whatever  army,  corps, 
or  division  he  may  come.  I  have  presided  over 
the  order  for  three  years,  and  the  gallant  Burnside 
has  been  unanimously  elected  my  successor.  It 
has,  as  an  organization,  done  much  good,  more 
even  than  the  most  of  you  are  aware  of.  It  is  for 
the  purpose  of  giving  an  opportunity  to  all  soldiers 


THE  LEGISLATOR— THE  GRAND  ARMY.    .     5tg 

of  standing  upon  the  same  noble  platform.  That 
platform  is  fraternity,  loyalty,  and  chanty — fra 
ternity  to  one  another  ;  loyalty  to  the  starry  ban 
ner,  to  the  Constitution  and  laws  of  the  United 
States,  to  the  integrity  of  this  great  and  mighty 
Union,  and  to  the  principles  upon  which  it  was 
founded." 


CHAPTER  XIII. 

THE  SENATOR — THE  SOLDIER'S  FRIEND. 

ELECTED  a  United  States  Senator  from 
Illinois,  to  succeed  Hon.  Richard  Yates, 
early  in  1871,  General  Logan  took  his 
seat  on  the  4th  of  March.  He  was  placed  on  the 
Committee  on  Military  Affairs,  and  he  vigorously 
protested  against  the  deposition  of  Charles  Sum- 
ner  from  the  chairmanship  of  the  Committee  on 
Foreign  Relations.  "  Twelve  years  ago,"  said  he, 
"  when  I  came  to  Congress,  I  differed  with  the 
Senator  from  Massachusetts  in  my  political  opin 
ions.  I  had  always  recognized  him  as  a  man 
of  great  ability,  as  -a  man  of  sterling  integrity 
and  worth ;  yet  I  had  no  sympathy  whatever 
with  his  political  views.  But  I  was  attracted 
toward  him  in  my  sympathies  and  feelings  because 
of  the  fact  that  I  stood  many  times  in  this  chamber 
and  saw  him  stand  like  a  Roman  Senator  and  hurl 
away  the  curs  of  slavery  as  they  snapped  and 
snarled  at  him.  I  many  times  saw  him  disperse 
them  in  debate  on  the*  floor  of  the  Senate.  I 
learned  then  to  admire  him,  although  I  did  riot 
fully  agree  with  him.  He  then,  sir,  led  the  army 
of  liberty  in  this  country.  He  was  its  leader  in 
616 


THE  SENATOR— THE  SOLDIERS  FRIEND.       ^  y 

the  Senate,  its  leader  everywhere,  as  its  orator,  as 
its  advocate,  as  the  man  that  advanced  opinions, 
as  the  man  that  went  far  in  advance  and  only 
beckoned  to  others  to  come  forward  with  him  and 
give  liberty  to  all  the  people  of  this  country. 
During  the  terrible  war  through  which  we  have 
passed  he  was  one  of  the  great  leaders  in  the 
Senate.  Through  all  our  trials  and  difficulties, 
through  our  misfortunes  and  our  triumphs,  he 
stood  at  the  head  of  the  men  in  favor  of  liberty  in 
this  land.  When  this  Administration  came  into 
power  he  still,  as  the  great  debater,  as  the  great 
statesman  in  this  land,  stood  at  the  head  of  all. 
He  was  a  friend  of  the  Administration.  I  hope 
that  the  friendly  personal  relation  between  them 
may  be  restored  and  again  exist." 

General  Logan  introduced  in  the  Senate,  and  had 
passed  against  strong  opposition  on  constitutional 
grounds,  a  bill  relieving  the  sufferers  by  the  great 
fire  in  Chicago  by  permitting  them  to  import 
building  material  free  of  duty.  The  next  year 
the  same  relief  was  asked  for  the  city  of  Boston, 
and  General  Logan  advocated  granting  it.  "  Sir," 
said  he,  "  as  a  citizen  of  Chicago,  I  have  seen  fire 
in  all  its  fiendish  fury ;  I  have  seen  its  destruction 
and  its  calamity ;  I  have  seen  the  sorrow  that  fol 
lowed  it ;  I  have  seen  the  destruction  of  property 
caused  by  that  great  element ;  I  have  seen  it  strike 
down  the  pride  of  the  people  of  a  great  city,  and 
when  I  know  that  the  same  thing  has  seized  on 


6 1 8  GENERAL  JOHN  A.  LOGAN. 

other  communities,  it   must  at  least  arouse  in  my 
breast  the  same  feeling  and  the  same  sympathy." 

General  Logan  not  only  presented  the  petitions 
of  many  disabled  soldiers  for  pensions  and  secured 
action  on  them,  but  he  had  passed  a  number  of 
bills  for  the  general  benefit  of  the  war-veterans, 
especially  those  who  were  disabled.  He  intro 
duced  a  bill  to  incorporate  a  Training  School  for 
the  orphans  of  Union  soldiers  and  sailors,  and  he 
showed  his  appreciation  of  those  who  had  given 
up  their  lives  while  serving  under  the  old  flag  by 
securing  appropriations  for  the  military  ceme 
teries  near  the  City  of  Mexico  and  at  the  Salisbury 
Prison,  and  for  the  erection  of  the  statue  to 
General  John  A.  Rawlins  which  now  graces  the 
Federal  Metropolis. 

When  General  Grant  was  assailed  in  the  Senate 
General  Logan  was  his  most  eloquent  defender. 
"What,"  said  he,  "has  the  tanner  from  Galena 
done  ?  He  has  written  his  history  in  deeds  which 
will  live  so  long  as  pens  are  dipped  in  ink,  so  long 
as  men  read,  and  so  long  as  history  is  written.  The 
history  of  that  man  is  worth  something.  It  is  val 
uable;  it  is  not  a  history  of  glittering  generalities 
and  declamation  in  speeches,  but  it  is  a  history  of 
great  deeds  and  great  things  accomplished  for  his 
country."  After  graphically  reviewing  General 
Grant's  Western  campaigns,  in  which  he  had  served 
under  him,  General  Logan  alluded  to  the  succes 
sive  defeats  of  the  Army  of  the  Potomac  and  went 


THE  SENATOR— THE  SOLDIER'S  FRIEND.       ft{g 

on  to  say:  "General  Grant  was  brought  to  the 
Army  of  the  Potomac.  He  made  a  success ;  he 
won  the  battle ;  victory  perched  upon  our  ban 
ners;  we  succeeded;  slavery  was  abolished,  and 
our  country  saved."  In  conclusion,  General  Lo 
gan  urged  disaffected  Republicans  to  "  stand  by 
the  old  ship,  in  which  there  is  life,  and  outside  of 
which  there  is  death.  But  whether  they  do  or 
not  success  will  be  ours;  this  Government  will  be 
peaceful,  the  people  happy  and  prosperous,  har 
mony  and  unity  will  prevail,  to  the  great  advance 
ment  of  the  material  interests  of  this  great  nation." 
In  1873,  General  Logan  delivered  the  annual 
oration  at  the  seventh  annual  meeting  of  the 
Army  of  the  Tennessee,  at  Toledo,  Ohio.  After 
reviewing  the  glorious  war  record  of  the  army 
and  paying  a  feeling  tribute  to  its  deceased  offi 
cers,  he  eloquently  said  :  "  And  now  that  peace 
is  restored  and  the  power  of  the  nation  mani 
fested  and  its  authority  vindicated,  we  should 
glory  in  its  perpetuity  and  triumph  and  teach  our 
posterity  to  honor  that  old  flag — emblem  of  peace 
and  prosperity.  For  three-quarters  of  a  century, 
in  every  land  and  every  clime,  it  has  been  the 
banner  of  freedom  and  token  of  liberty — the  star- 
spangled  banner  that  has  gathered  millions  from 
lands  of  oppression  and  homes  of  servitude.  In 
foreign  lands  the  wanderer  has  greeted  it  with 
gladdened  eyes  and  thankful  heart  as  he  beheld 
it  floating  from  the  mast.  It  is  the  same  banner 


62O          GENERAL  JOHN  A,  LOGAN. 

that  waved  over  that  noble  band  of  patriots  that 
won  our  independence,  led  on  by  the  immortal 
Washington.  Its  flaming  folds  hurled  back 
defiance  from  the  ramparts  at  New  Orleans  and 
flaunted  in  the  face  of  invaders.  On  the  heights 
of  Chapultepec  and  towers  of  New  Mexico  it 
floated  proudly  as  the  token  of  victory  and  the 
evidence  of  success.  From  the  walls  of  Sumter  it 
proclaimed  unflinching  war  with  secession  and 
unyielding  strife  with  disunion.  During  the  long 
and  wearisome  marches  through  the  States  in 
rebellion  it  gladdened  the  eyes  and  nerved  the 
hand  of  the  weary  Union  soldier  and  proclaimed 
freedom  to  the  oppressed.  On  a  hundred  battle 
fields  it  cheered  the  heart  of  the  dying  patriot  as 
he  beheld  it  borne  on  in  triumph  amidst  the  shouts 
of  victory.  All  hail  !  proud  old  banner  of  the  free. 
No  ruthless  hand  shall  despoil  thee;  no  dark  cloud 
of  treason  shall  ever  dim  thy  lustre.  Float  on  in 
the  breeze ;  you  shall  be  preserved  and  cherished, 
amid  all  the  vicissitudes  of  the  future,  as  the 
emblem  of  liberty." 

The  outrages  in  the  State  of  Louisiana  met 
with  General  Logan's  severe  condemnation,  and 
he  earnestly  defended  President  Grant  and  Gen 
eral  Sheridan,  who  had  been  denounced  for  their 
action  against  the  "  White  Leagues."  "  Why," 
he  asked,  "are  Democratic  Senators  quiet?  Men 
cannot  say,  either  here  or  elsewhere,  that  these 
wrongs  are  perpetrated  by  Republicans.  You, 


THE  SENATOR— THE  SOLDIERS  FRIEND.        £2  j 

gentlemen,  sit  silent  here  ;  and  your  silence  and 
your  acquiescence  and  your  defense  of  every 
wrong  that  is  perpetrated  upon  the  unfortunate 
man,  poor  though  he  may  be,  colored  though  he 
may  be,  indicate  what  there  is  in  your  hearts." 

General  Logan's  first  term  as  Senator  expired 
in  1877,  and  he  was  unanimously  nominated  by 
the  Republicans  of  the  Illinois  Legislature  for  re 
election,  but  that  party  lacked  three  votes  of  a 
majority,  and,  after  a  long  contest,  Judge  David 
Davis  was  elected  by  the  combined  votes  of  the 
Democrats  and  Independents. 


CHAPTER    XIV. 

RETURN  TO  THE  SENATE — REPUBLICAN  CONVENTION. 

IN  1879,  the  Republicans  of  Illinois  had  again 
a  majority  in  the  Legislature,  and  elected 
General  Logan  to  the  Senate  to  succeed 
Governor  Oglesby.  He  took  his  seat  on  the  i6th 
of  March,  and  at  once  recommenced  his  exer 
tions  for  securing  arrears  of  pensions  to  the 
Union  veterans  of  the  late  war,  which  he  had 
passed  several  times  in  the  Senate  to  see  it  fall 
into  some  of  the  legislative  traps  of  the  House. 
In  a  long  debate  on  the  Army  Appropriation  bill, 
General  Logan  gave  a  clear  analysis  of  the  rela 
tions  of  the  military  force  to  the  civil  power  of 
the  Government,  and  exposed  the  arrogant  at 
tempts  of  the  Democratic  party  to  control  the 
Government.  4<The  Republicans,"  he  told  the 
Democratic  Senators,  "  will  not  relinquish  any  of 
those  advanced  principles  which  have  inured  to 
the  Government  and  the  people  through  the  suf 
ferings  of  the  war.  They  will  never  abandon 
the  principles  enunciated  in  the  Thirteenth,  Four 
teenth,  and  Fifteenth  Amendments  to  the  Consti 
tution.  They  will  never  permit  a  modification  of 
the  rights  of  the  four  million  blacks  of  the  South. 
622 


RETURN  TO  THE  SENATE.  ^2^ 


They,  after  having  been  liberated  from  slavery 
and  elevated  to  the  full  rights  of  citizenship,  shall 
not  be  remanded  to  a  condition  as  bad  or  worse 
than  serfdom  or  peonage.  They  will  never,  never 
quietly  permit,  sir,  the  elective  franchise,  upon 
the  purity  of  which  rests  .our  whole  political 
structure,  to  be  dispensed  at  the  hands  of  hired 
ruffians  and  paid  assassins." 

General  Logan  attended  the  National  Republi 
can  Convention  at  Chicago,  in  1880,  to  advocate 
the  nomination  of  General  Grant,  believing  that 
he  could  carry  several  Southern  States  and  thus 
overthrow  "the  Solid  South."  The  Chicago  Jour 
nal  said  of  him  :  "  He  is  a  stalwart  Grant  man, 
standing  by  his  great  commander  now  with  the 
same  chivalric  spirit  which  prevented  him  from 
assuming  command  of  Thomas'  army  on  the  eve 
of  victory,  as  he  could  have  done  under  his  in 
structions."  How  nobly  he  carried  out  the  prom 
ise  of  that  letter  !  When  Garfield  received  a  ma 
jority  of  the  votes  at  the  Chicago  Convention  it 
was  Logan  who  so  warmly  and  fervently  seconded 
the  motion  to  make  the  vote  for  him  unanimous, 
and  who  was  the  first  to  promise  that  he,  with  the 
Garfield  men,  would  "go  'forward  in  this  contest, 
not  with  tied  hands,  not  with  sealed  lips,  not  with 
bridled  tongues,  but  to  speak  the  truth  in  favor  of 
the  grandest  party  that  has  ever  been  organized 
in  this  country  ;  to  maintain  its  principles,  to 
maintain  its  power,  to  preserve  its  ascendency." 


624         GENERAL  JOHN  A.  LOGAN. 

General  Garfield  was  highly  gratified  when  at 
the  ratification  meeting  held  at  Washington  on  the 
1 6th  of  June,  1880,  General  Logan  came  forward 
to  speak,  receiving  enthusiastic  applause.  When 
quiet  had  been  partially  restored,  he  said :  "  If 
any  one  desired  to  know  who  his  first  and  last 
choice  was,  he  would  answer :  the  nominee  of  the 
Republican  party.  The  candidate  that  now  bore 
its  banner  was  all  that  he  or  the  people  could  de 
sire.  If  the  people  of  this  country  desired  a  born 
leader  they  had  it  in  the  person  of  James  A.  Gar- 
field.  No  matter  who  the  first  or  second  choice 
had  been,  let  the  only  choice  now  be  the  nominee. 
All  sores  should  be  healed,  and  there  should  be 
no  feeling  save  one  of  success ;  and  to  his  old 
comrades  he  would  say:  Touch  elbows  on  the 
march,  and  press  forward  to  certain  victory." 

In  July,  1880,  the  Republican  National' Com 
mittee  placed  General  Logan  at  the  head  of  the 
Executive  Committee  in  charge  of  the  Republican 
campaign  in  the  West.  Within  a  week  thereafter 
he  opened  the  contest  in  Illinois  with  a  ringing 
two  hours'  speech  at  Murphysboro'— a  great 
speech,  covering  the  records  of  both  parties,  elab 
orate,  exhaustive,  direct,  and  convincing— before 
an  audience  larger  than  had  ever  before  been 
seen  there  at  a  political  meeting.  «  Logan,"  said 
one  who  knew,  "neither  sulked  nor  lamented.  He 
was  the  first  of  the  stalwarts  to  take  off  his  coat 
and  mount  the  stump  for  Garfield.  His  labors  in 


RETURN  TO  THE  SENATE.  ^2  - 

0 

this  State  [Illinois]  were  little  short  of  Herculean. 
He  spoke  night  and  day,  and  his  speeches — plain, 
practical,  destitute  of  rhetorical  flourishes,  and 
dealing  in  the  questions  that  were  asked  during 
the  canvass — had  an  immense  effect  upon  his  au 
ditors."  From  the  beginning  of  the  campaign  to 
its  close  in  November,  besides  his  other  labors 
and  in  addition  to  indoor  addresses,  to  audiences 
ranging  from  a  few  thousands  up  to  forty  thou 
sand,  oration  after  oration  signalized  his  appear 
ance  everywhere.  Said  a  special  telegram  from 
Pittsfield,  in  the  Inter-  Ocean  of  November  i  st,  after 
alluding  to  his  speech  there  the  previous  evening  : 
"Thus  ends  one  of  the  most  remarkable  per 
sonal  campaigns  ever  made.  Senator  Logan  has 
made  over  sixty  open-air  speeches,  extending 
from  Maine  to  Illinois.  He  spoke  in  Indiana 
nearly  a  month*  almost  every  day,  and  one  day 
made  no  less  than  nine  different  speeches."  True 
to  Garfield,  the  Republican  nominee,  he  was  as 
true  to  Garfield,  the  Republican  President.  After 
Garfield's  inauguration,  when  trouble  arose  within 
the  party,  Logan  supported  the  Administration 
cordially.  As  has  been  well  said  by  another, 
"  While  not  assailing  his  friend  Conkling,  he  yet 
gave  him  no  encouragement  in  his  contest  with 
the  President.  He  rather  assumed  the  attitude 
of  a  peacemaker  and  sought  to  heal  all  wounds 
and  put  an  end  to  all  dissensions  in  the  party." 
General  Logan's  speeches  in  defense  of  the 


526  GENERAL  JOHN  A.  LO  CAN. 

verdict  of  the  Court  which  tried  Fitz  John  Porter 
have  been  alike  exhaustive  and  able,  giving  the 
views  of  a  soldier  on  a  soldier's  conduct,  with  a 
wonderful  array  of  authorities  from  martial  law, 
historical  facts,  illustration,  and  appeal.  The  New 
York  Tribune  said  of  the  principal  effort :  "  Prob 
ably  never  before  within  the  history  of  the  Senate 
has  a  speech,  lasting  through  the  sessions  of  four 
days,  been  listened  to  with  such  attention,"  and  it 
recalled  to  old-stagers  at  the  Capitol  the  great 
speeches  of  Benton,  in  completeness  and  force. 

When  the  National  Republican  Convention 
met  again  at  Chicago,  in  June,  1884,  many  sup 
ported  General  Logan  as  their  first  choice  for 
nomination  as  Presidential  candidate.  A  larger 
number,  however,  preferred  the  Hon.  James  G. 
Elaine,  of  Maine,  and  when  General  Logan 
learned  this  he  immediately  telegraphed  to  his 
friends  to  support  "  the  Plumed  Knight,"  who 
was  then  nominated.  The  Convention  then  unan 
imously  nominated  General  Logan  for  Vice1Pres- 
ident,  amid  great  enthusiasm,  which  was  echoed 
in  every  loyal  soldier's  heart  in  the  land. 


CHAPTER  XV. 

THE  SOLDIER  STATESMAN — THE  CANDIDATE. 

THE  preceding  pages  give  the  salient  points 
of  General  Logan's  eventful  life.  A  well- 
educated  and  able  lawyer,  a  brave  and 
gallant  soldier,  a  meritorious  legislator,  and  a  suc 
cessful  politician,  he  has  an  unassailable  record 
and  his  personal  popularity  is  unbounded.  Reared 
on  a  farm,  and  now  the  successful  cultivator  of  his 
own  fertile  acres,  he  is  regarded  as  the  farmer's 
true  friend.  "  To  see  him,"  said  the  Springfield, 
Illinois,  Monitor,  "  at  Carbondale,  with  a  wide- 
brimmed  straw  hat,  blue  woolen  shirt,  and  but 
ternut  pants  on,  astride  of  his  favorite  *  Dolly/ 
going  backward  and  forward  to  his  wheat-fields, 
and  while  there  taking  a  hand  ' shocking'  after  his 
twine-binders,  is  a  sight  which  every  constituency 
of  Senators  is  not  permitted  to  witness.  After  a 
hard  day's  work  in  the  field  with  the  boys  he  lies 
on  the  grass  with  them  in  the  evening,  while 
lemonade  is  freely  passed  around,  and  all  hands 
join  in  discussing  the  news  of  the  day.  This  is 
John  A.  Logan  at  home,  and  yet  some  people 
wonder  why  it  is  that  he  has  such  a  hold  on  the 
boys."  A  farmer  himself,  he  knows  what  legisla- 

627 


628  GENERAL  JOHN  A.  LOGAN. 

tion  the  farmers  want,  and  does  his  best  to  secure 
it  for  them,  whether  through  protection  or  other 
wise. 

Born  in  the  great  Mississippi  Valley  and  iden 
tified  with  Western  interests,  General  Logan  has 
always  advocated  heartily  measures  for  improving 
the  Mississippi  and  Ohio  Rivers,  and  making  them 
the  great  thoroughfares  by  which  our  grain  can 
be  sent  to  the  European  markets.  He  also  favors 
a  ship  canal  from  Chicago  to  the  Mississippi 
River,  and  the  Sonoma,  Illinois,  Index  said  of 
him:  "Not  only  his  own  State,  but  the  whole 
Mississippi  Valley,  receives  the  benefit  of  his 
watchful  care;  he  has  secured  more  and  larger 
appropriations  for  the  entire  region  drained  by 
the  Mississippi  than  have  any  half-dozen  other 
Senators  combined.  No  man  understands  more 
fully  the  condition  of  public  affairs,  and  none  is 
more  watchful  of  the  public  welfare." 

The  loyal  veterans  of  the  Union  army  recognize 
in  General  Logan  a  true  type  of  the  citizen-sol 
dier.  Rising  from  the  ranks  to  the  command  of 
the  Army  of  the  Tennessee,  he  severed  his  polit 
ical  ties  and  fought  gallantly  for  the  Union.  He 
never  asked  his  men  to  go  where  he  dared  not  go 
himself,  but  he  often  led  where  even  the  bravest 
needed  all  the  inspiration  of  his  gallant  example 
to  follow.  Without  flinching,  with  resolute  will, 
common  sense,  and  measureless  persistence,  he 
obeyed  the  orders  of  his  superiors,  not  with  me- 


THE  SOLDIER  STATESMAN— THE  CANDIDATE.  ()2q 

chanical  obedience,  but  with  an  intelligent  instinct 
that  often  anticipated  orders,  and  his  discipline 
was  tempered  with  forbearance  and  with  courtesy. 
His  subordinate  officers  loved  and  respected  him, 
and  the  enlisted  men  of  his  command  remember 
that  they  were  treated  as  citizens  who  had  been 
prompted  by  patriotism  to  enter  the  ranks,  and 
were  not  degraded  by  the  abuse  of  martinets. 

Among  his  Congressional  colleagues,  at  the 
bar,  and  in  social  life,  General  Logan  is  loved  the 
most  by  those  who  know  him  best.  Free  from 
the  enslaving  vices  which  have  clouded  some  of 
the  brightest  intellects  in  the  national  councils 
and  in  the  armies  of  the  nation,  General  Logan 
is  rather  domestic  in  his  habits,  refined  in  his 
tastes,  courteous  in  his  deportment,  a 

"  Friend  to  truth !  of  soul  sincere, 
In  action  faithful,  and  in  honor  clear." 

He  is  a  student,  not  skimming  over  new  pub 
lications,  but  reading — or  having  read  to  him — 
standard  works  on  subjects  with  which  he  desires 
to  become  familiar.  He  never  appears  to  be 
hurried  or  flustered,  but  performs  his  duties 
systematically  and  thoroughly.  His  is  "  a  sound 
mind  in  a  sound  body,"  and  he  is  sustained  by 
his  religious  faith  in  the  path  of  duty.  The 
Methodist  Episcopal  Church  numbers  General 
Logan  and  his  wife  among  its  members. 

The  colored  people  have  always  found  General 


630  GENERAL  JOB  ft  A.  LOGAN. 

Logan  ready  to  sustain  the  rights  guaranteed  to 
them  by  the  Constitution.  In  a  speech  in  1880, 
after  quoting  the  Fourteenth  Amendment  and 
showing  the  fallacy  of  the  reasoning  of  those 
who  hold  that  the  National  Government  has  ample 
power  and  would  exercise  it  to  the  extent  of  war, 
if  need  be,  to  protect  the  American  citizen  on 
foreign  soil,  but  has  no  power  to  protect  the 
American  citizen  on  our  own  soil,  he  says :  "  It 
would  be  quite  as  reasonable  to  say  you  cannot 
protect  your  property  on  your  own  farm,  but  as 
soon  as  it  is  safely  placed  on  your  neighbor's  you 
may  do  so,  even  to  the  shedding  of  blood  1 

"  I  think  the  people  of  this  or  any  other  Gov 
ernment  would  prefer  to  have  protection  at  home 
rather  than  be  compelled  to  go  to  foreign  soil  for 
it.  I  do  not  agree  to  this  latter  doctrine  for  a  mo 
ment.  The  fabric  of  our  Government  is  not  so 
weak  as  this.  It  is  a  Government  clothed  by  the 
people  with  sovereign  powers,  through  which  jus 
tice  can  be  administered,  domestic  tranquillity  pre 
served,  the  common  defense  provided  for,  the 
general  welfare  promoted,  the  blessings  of  liberty 
secured  to  all,  and  its  citizens  at  home  and  abroad 
protected  in  all  the  rights  pertaining  to  them  as 
citizens  of  the  Republic ;  and  unless  the  authority 
shall  be  asserted  under  the  Constitution  and  laws 
to  do  this  there  is  great  danger  menacing  the  Re 
public." 

General    Logan    is    of    middle    height,    broad- 


TffE  SOLDIER  STATESMAN— THE  CANDIDATE    5^ 

shouldered,  with  a  head  well  poised,  a  thick 
growth  of  jet  black  hair,  which  he  wears  some 
what  long,  a  heavy  black  moustache,  and  eyes 
that  seem  to  read  one  through  at  a  glance.  His 
manners  are  soldier-like,  and  among  strangers 
dignified  almost  to  austerity,  but  when  among 
friends  he  is  jovial  and  amiable.  He  speaks  with 
great  ease,  and  with  a  subdued  earnestness  that 
impresses  and  wins  the  attention  of  his  auditors, 
and  his  voice,  though  sonorous,  enlists  the  sym 
pathies  of  listeners.  Without  the  polished  graces 
of  a  university  style,  seldom  making  a  quotation, 
rarely  indulging  in  an  anecdote,  he  speaks  with 
an  earnestness  that  .carries  conviction  with  his 
argument.  In  debate  he  displays  great  boldness 
and  .skill,  and  a  readiness  in  attack  or  defense 
which  gives  him  great  strength. 

General  Logan  and  his  accomplished  wife  have 
two  children.  Their  daughter  is  the  wife  of  Pay 
master  Tucker,  of  the  army,  who  has  been  sta 
tioned  for  some  years  past  at  Santa  Fe,  in  New 
Mexico ;  and  their  son,  Manning  Logan,  who  has 
inherited  his  father's  military  spirit,  is  a  cadet  at 
the  West  Point  Military  Academy.  The  General's 
home  is  a  pleasant  house  on  Calumet  Avenue,  in 
Chicago,  and  he  owns  the  family  homestead  in 
Southern  Illinois.  When  at  Washington  he  has 
occupied  for  some  years  past  two  rooms  at  a 
modest  boarding-house  on  Twelfth  Street. 

General   Henderson,  chairman  of  the  Commit- 


5^2  GENERA L  JOHN  A.  LO CAN. 

tee  appointed  at  Chicago  to  notify  the  candidates 
for  President  and  Vice-President  of  their  nomina 
tion,  well  said  in  his  address  to  General  Logan 
that  in  his  election  the  people  of  the  country  will 
furnish  new  proof  of  the  excellence  of  our  insti 
tutions.  Without  wealth,  without  help  from  others, 
without  any  resources  except  those  of  heart,  con 
science,  intellect,  energy,  and  courage,  he  has  won 
a  high  place  in  the  world's  history  and  secured 
the  confidence  and  affection  of  his  countrymen. 
Being  one  of  the  people,  his  sympathies  are  with 
the  people.  In  civil  life  his  chief  care  has  been 
to  better  their  condition,  to  secure  their  rights 
and  perpetuate  their  liberties.  When  the  Govern 
ment  was  threatened  by  armed  treason  he  en 
tered  its  service  as  a  private,  became  a  com 
mander  of  armies,  and  is  now  the  ideal  of  the 
citizen-soldiers  of  this  Republic.  Such,  in  the 
judgment  of  the  Republican  party,  is  the  candi 
date  it  has  selected. 

With  Elaine  as  a  leader  and  Logan  as  second 
in  command,  the  Republican  party  will  march 
proudly  forward,  "  keeping  step  to  the  music  of 
the  Union,"  to  a  glorious  triumph — the  triumph  of 
Union  and  Liberty,  of  the  advancement  of  Ameri 
can  Industry,  of  the  Rights  of  all  the  People,  of 
the  Honor,  the  Prosperity,  and  the  Glory  of  the 
Republic. 


THE 

CITIZEN'S  HANDBOOK 

OF 

VALUABLE  FACTS  FOR  CAMPAIGN  WORK. 


"In  order  to  have  any  success  in  life,  or  any  worthy 
success,  you  must  resolve  to  carry  into  your  work  a  full 
ness  of  Knowledge — not  merely  a  Sufficiency,  but  more 
than  a  Sufficiency." 

James  A.  Garfield. 


PRESIDENTIAL  CONTESTS. 


635 


BIRD'S-EYE    VIEW    OF   THE    PRESIDENTIAL 
CONTESTS. 

Washington,  Adams,  Jefferson,  Madison,  Monroe,  John 
Quincy  Adams,  and  Jackson  were  chosen  to  the  Presidency 
without  the  machinery  of  either  State  or  National  Conven 
tions  for  their  nomination. 

WASHINGTON  was  chosen  by  common  consent  and  demand, 
receiving  the  unanimous  electoral  vote,  sixty-nine,  ten  States 
only  voting,  New  York,  North  Carolina,  and  Rhode  Island- 
not  having  adopted  the  Constitution  or  framed  election  laws,, 
and  four  qualified  delegates  being  absent.  At  his  second 
election  he  received  all  the  votes  but  three,  viz. :  one  hundred' 
and  thirty-two  out  of  one  hundred  and  thirty-five,  fifteen 
States  voting.  In  1789,  eleven  other  persons  were  voted  for 
on  the  same  ballots  with  Washington,  he  who  received  the  next 
highest  vote  to  be  the  Vice-President,  as  was  the  rule  until 
1804.  John  Adams  was  thus  chosen  by  thirty-four  votes  over 
the  following  competitors :  John  Jay,  R.  H.  Harrison,  John 
Rutledge,  John  Hancock,  George  Clinton,  Samuel  Hunt 
ingdon,  John  Milton,  James  Armstrong,  Benjamin  Lincoln, 
and  Edward  Telfair.  In  1792,  John  Adams  was  again  chosen 
Vice-President,  by  seventy-seven  out  of  one  hundred  and 
thirty-two  votes,  over  George  Clinton,  Thomas  Jefferson,  and 
Aaron  Burr.  Adams  represented  the  Federalist  or  Adminis 
tration  party  of  the  day,  the  opposition  being  then  known 
as  the  Republican  party. 

ADAMS,  having  twice  held  the  Vice-Presidency,  was  thought 
to  have  a  claim  on  the  higher  position,  and  in  1796,  sixteen 
States  voting,  he  received  seventy- one  electoral  votes,  Jeffer 
son  receiving  sixty-eight,  and  becoming  Vice-President  over 
Thomas  Pinckney,  Aaron  Burr,  Samuel  Adams,  Oliver  Ells 
worth,  George  Clinton,  John  Jay,  James  Iredell,  George 
Washington,  John  Henry,  S.  Johnson,  and  Charles  C.  Pinck 
ney,  for  each  of  whom  from  one  to  fifty-nine  electoral  votes 


636 


PRESIDENTIA L  CONTES  TS. 


were  cast.  The  successful  candidates  represented  the  two 
parties  of  the  day.  In  1800,  the  parties  in  Congress  each 
held  a  caucus  and  each  nominated  its  own  candidates. 

JEFFERSON  was  chosen  President  in  1800,  on  the  thirty- 
sixth  ballot  of  the  House  of  Representatives,  he  and  Aaron 
Burr  having  a  tie  vote  of  seventy-three  in  the  Electoral  Col 
lege,  sixteen  States  voting.  Burr  then  became  Vice-President 
over  John  Adams,  Charles  C.  Pinckney,  and  John  Jay,  who 
represented  the  Federalists.  In  1803,  the  Constitution  was 
amended  prescribing  the  present  method  of  choosing  the 
nation's  chief  officers.  After  this  for  a  long  period  the  Re 
publican  party  and  its  successor,  the  Democratic  party,  had 
things  as  they  pleased.  In  1804,  Jefferson  was  re-elected 
over  Charles  C.  Pinckney  by  one  hundred  and  sixty-two 
votes  to  fourteen,  George  Clinton  becoming  Vice-President 
over  Rufus  King.  This  was  a  result  of  the  Congressional 
caucus.  Seventeen  States  voted. 

MADISON,  the  nominee  of  the  Republican  caucus,  received 
one  hundred  and  twenty-two  electoral  votes  in  1808,  seventeen 
Statesvoting,  his  opponent,  Charles  C.  Pinckney,  receiving  but 
fourteen,  and  George  Clinton,  another  candidate,  receiving 
none.  Clinton  received  one  hundred  and  thirteen  votes  for  the 
Vice-Presidency,  however,  and  was  chosen  over  Rufus  King, 
John  Langdon,  James  Madison,  and  James  Monroe. 

In  1812,  Madison  received  one  hundred  and  twenty-eight 
electoral  votes  out  of  two  hundred  and  eighteen,  eighteen 
States  voting,  De  Witt  Clinton  receiving  eighty-nine  votes. 
Elbridge  Gerry  was  chosen  to  the  second  place  by  one  hun 
dred  and  thirty-one  votes,  Jared  Ingersoll  receiving  eighty-six. 

MONROE  was  twice  lifted  into  power  by  the  caucus,  receiv 
ing  one  hundred  and  eighty-three  votes  to  thirty-four  for 
Rufus  King,  in  1816,  and  two  hundred  and  thirty-one  to  one 
only  for  John  Quincy  Adams,  in  1820,  nineteen  States  voting 
in  the  first  election  and  twenty-four  in  the  second.  D.  D. 
Tompkins  received  one  hundred  and  eighty-three  votes  for 


PRESIDENTIAL   CONTESTS 


637 


Vice-President  in  1816,  and  two  hundred  and  eighteen  in 
1820,  his  competitors  in  the  first  race  being  JohnE.  Howard, 
James  Ross,  John  Marshall,  and  Robert  G.  Harper,  and  in 
the  second  Richard  Stockton,  Daniel  Rodney,  Robert  G.  Har 
per,  and  Richard  Rush.  At  the  end  of  Monroe's  term  parties 
began  to  break  up  and  new  combinations  to  form  under  lead 
of  the  State  Legislatures,  several  of  which  brought  out  their 
favorite  sons. 

JOHN  QUINCY  ADAMS  was  the  Coalition  nominee  of  Massa 
chusetts  in  1824.  Jackson  was  put  forward  by  Tennessee,  as 
were  William  H.  Crawford  and  Henry  Clay  by  their  respective 
States ;  twenty-four  States  voted  in  this  contest,  having  two  hun  - 
dred  and  sixty-one  electoral  votes,  of  which  Jackson  received 
ninety-nine,  and  Adams  eighty-four,  the  remainder  being 
divided  among  the  other  two  candidates.  No  choice  being 
made,  the  House  of  Representatives  settled  the  contest,  giving 
Adams  thirteen  States,  Jackson  seven  States,  and  Crawford 
four  States.  Jackson's  popular  vote  was  one  hundred  and 
fifty-five  thousand  eight  hundred  and  seventy-two ;  that  of 
Adams,  one  hundred  and  five  thousand  three  hundred  and 
twenty-one,  while  Crawford  and  Clay  together  polled  ninety 
thousand  eight  hundred  and  sixty-nine.  A  tempest  of  ill-feel 
ing  was  begotten  by  this  decision.  John  C.  Calhoun  was  chosen 
Vice-President,  however,  receiving  one  hundred  and  eighty- 
two  votes,  his  opponents  being  Nathan  Sanford,  Nathaniel 
Macon,  Andrew  Jackson,  Martin  Van  Buren,  and  Henry  Clay. 

JACKSON  was  so  enraged  by  his  defeat  that  he  left  the  Senate 
and  threw  all  his  tremendous  energy  into  the  campaign  of 
1828,  he  being  the  leader  of  the  newly  formed  Demociatic 
party.  Twenty-four  States  voted,  with  two  hundred  and 
sixty-one  electoral  votes,  of  which  Jackson  secured  one  hun 
dred  and  seventy-eight,  to  eighty-three  for  Adams,  and  a 
popular  vote  of  six  hundred  and  forty-seven  thousand  two 
hundred  and  thirty-one,  to  five  hundred  and  nine  thousand 
and  ninety-seven  for  Adams.  Calhoun  again  became  Vice- 
President  by  one  hundred  and  seventy-one  votes,  Richard 


638 


PRESIDENTIAL  CONTESTS. 


Rush  and  William  Smith  being  his  vanquished  rivals.  In 
1832,  Jackson  again  swept  the  board,  receiving  two  hundred 
and  nineteen  electoral  votes  and  six  hundred  and  eighty-seven 
thousand  two  hundred  and  thirty-one  popular  votes,  Henry 
Clay,  the  National  Republican  candidate,  receiving  forty-nine 
electoral  votes,  and  five  hundred  and  thirty  thousand  one 
hundred  and  eighty-nine  popular  votes.  John  Floyd  and 
William  Wirt  received  some  thirty-three  thousand  votes  from 
the  people  and  eighteen  from  the  electors.  Martin  Van 
Buren  became  Vice-President  in  Jackson's  second  term,  re 
ceiving  one  hundred  and  eighty-nine  votes,  his  competitors 
being  John  Sergeant,  Henry  Lee,  Amos  Ellmaker,  and 
William  Wilkins. 

The  Convention  system  was  born  under  Jackson's  Adminis 
tration.  Its  object  was  to  prevent  defeat  by  scattered  votes 
in  the  same  party  The  anti-Masonic  party  held  the  first 
gathering  of  the  sort,  William  Wirt  being  its  nominee.  The 
National  Republicans  followed  in  1831,  the  Democrats  in 
1832.  This  machinery  bore  its  first  fruits  in  Jackson's  second 
Presidential  campaign.  The  Whig  party  made  its  first  ap 
pearance  in  1836,  but  its  counsels  were  divided  and  it  lost. 

VAN  BUREN  was  nominated  by  the  Democrats,  and  in  1836, 
twenty-six  States  voting,  he  received  one  hundred  and  seventy 
electoral  votes,  four  Whig  candidates,  William  H.  Harrison, 
Hugh  L.  White,  Daniel  Webster,  and  W.  P.  Mangum  divid 
ing  among  themselves  eleven  electoral  votes.  Van  Buren 's 
popular  vote  was  seven  hundred  and  sixty-one  thousand  five 
hundred  and  forty-nine;  that  of  all  others,  seven  hundred 
and  thirty-six  thousand  six  hundred  and  fifty-six.  R.  M, 
Johnson,  who  received  one  hundred  and  seventy  electoral 
votes  for  Vice-President,  not  receiving  a  majority  of  all,  was 
elected  by  the  Senate.  His  competitors  were  Francis 
Granger,  John  Tyler,  and  William  Smith. 

HARRISON,  in  1840,  received  a  popular  vote  of  one  million 
two  hundred  and  seventy-five  thousand  and  seventeen,  and  an 
electoral  vote  of  two  hundred  and  thirty-four,  as  did  John 


PRESIDENTIAL  CONTESTS. 


639 


Tyler,  his  associate  on  the  Whig  ticket.  He  was  opposed  by 
Van  Buren,  who  polled  one  million  one  hundred  and  twenty- 
eight  thousand  seven  hundred  and  two  popular  votes,  and 
sixty  of  the  electoral  college,  and  by  James  G.  Birney,  of  the 
Liberty  or  Abolition  party,  who  polled  seven  thousand  and 
fifty-nine  votes.  R.  M.  Johnson,  L.  W.  Tazewell,  and  James 
K.  Polk  were  candidates  for  the  Vice-Presidency,  receiving  in 
all  sixty  electoral  votes.  Twenty-six  States  voted.  Harrison's 
election  was  the  first  Whig  success,  and  the  campaign  preced 
ing  it  has  been  aptly  termed  "  the  great  national  frolic." 

POLK  was  chosen  President  in  1844  °ver  Birney,  the  Abo 
litionist,  and  Clay,  the  Whig,  receiving  a  popular  vote  of 
one  million  three  hundred  and  thirty-seven-  thousand  two 
hundred  and  forty-three,  and  an  electoral  vote  of  one  hundred 
and  seventy,  to  Clay's  one  million  two  hundred  and  ninety- 
nine  thousand  and  sixty-eight  popular  and  one  hundred  and 
five  electoral,  Birney's  vote  being  sixty-two  thousand  three 
hundred  popular  and  none  electoral.  For  Vice-President 
George  M.  Dallas  received  the  same  electoral  vote  as  Polk, 
and  Theodore  Frelinghuysen  the  same  as  Clay. 

TAYLOR  was  chosen  by  the  Whigs  in  1848,  Clay  and  Web 
ster  being  abandoned.  He  and  his  associate,  Millard  Fill- 
more,  received  each  one  hundred  and  sixty-three  electoral 
votes  and  a  popular  vote  of  one  million  three  hundred  and 
sixty  thousand  one  hundred  and  one.  Lewis  Cass,  the  Demo 
cratic  nominee,  and  Wm.  O.  Butler,  his  associate,  were  re 
garded  as  a  weak  combination,  but  they  polled  one  million 
two  hundred  and  twenty  thousand  five  hundred  and  forty-four 
votes,  with  one  hundred  and  twenty-seven  electors.  Van 
Buren  ran  on  the  Free  Soil  ticket  with  Charles  Francis  Adams, 
and  received  two  hundred  and  ninety-one  thousand  two 
hundred  and  sixty-three  votes,  thirty  States  voting.  Taylor 
died,  and  Fillmore  quarreled  with  his  party,  thus  impairing 
its  strength  sadly, 

PIERCE  rode  into  power  over  the  fragments  of  the  Whig 
party,  he  and  his  associate,  William  R.  King,  receiving  two 


640  PRESIDENTIAL   CONTESTS. 

hundred  and  fifty-four  electoral  and  one  million  six  hundred 
and  one  thousand  four  hundred  and  seventy-four  popular 
votes.  Winfield  Scott  and  William  A.  Graham,  the  Whig 
nominees,  received  forty-two,  electoral  and  one  million  three 
hundred  and  eighty-six  thousand  five  hundred  and  seventy- 
eight  popular  votes,  John  P.  Hale  and  George  W.  Julian, 
Free  Democrats,  polling  one  hundred  and  fifty-six  thousand 
one  hundred  and  forty-nine  suffrages.  This  contest  ended 
the  Whig  party.  Thirty-one  States  voted. 

BUCHANAN"  was  chosen  in  1856  by  one  hundred  and  sev 
enty-four  electoral  votes,  John  C.  Breckenridge  being  his 
associate,  they  receiving  a  popular  vote  of  one  million  eight 
hundred  and  thirty-eight  thousand  one  hundred  and  sixty- 
nine,  John  C.  Fremont  and  Wm.  L.  Dayton,  nominees  of  the 
newly-formed  Republican  party,  receiving  one  hundred  and 
fourteen  electoral  and  one  million  three  hundred  and  forty- 
one  thousand  two  hundred  and  sixty-four  popular  votes, 
while  Millard  Fillmore  and  A.  J.  Donelson,  of  the  American 
party,  had  eight  electoral  and  eight  hundred  and  seventy-four 
thousand  five  hundred  and  thirty-four  popular  votes.  This 
was  a  most  bitter  campaign,-  saturated  with  all  the  issues  of 
slavery,  disunion,  and  border  ruffianism. 

LINCOLN  was  elected  in  1860  by  a  popular  vote  of  one 
million  eight  hundred  and  sixty-six  thousand  three  hundred 
and  fifty-two,  and  an  electoral  vote  of  one  hundred  and 
eighty,  Hannibal  Hamlin  being  his  associate.  This  was  the 
first  victory  for  the  Republicans.  Democrats,  Constitutional 
Unionists,  and  Independent  Democrats  voted  respectively 
for  Breckenridge  and  Lane,  Bell  and  Everett,  and  Douglas 
and  Johnson,  who  received  electoral  votes  as  follows: 
Breckenridge,  seventy-two;  Bell,  thirty-nine;  Douglas, 
twelve ;  and  popular  votes :  Breckenridge,  eight  hundred 
and  forty-five  thousand  seven  hundred  and  sixty-three ;  Bell, 
five  hundred  and  eighty-nine  thousand  five  hundred  and 
eighty-one;  and  Douglas,  one  million  three  hundred  and 
seventy-five  thousand  one  hundred  and  fifty-seven.  Thirty- 


PRESIDENTIAL  CONTESTS. 

three  States  engaged  in  this  contest,  of  which  Lincoln  carried 
seventeen,  Breckenridge  eleven,  Bell  three,  and  Douglas 
two.  Lincoln's  second  election,  Andrew  Johnson  being  his 
associate,  was  by  two  hundred  and  twelve  electoral  and  two 
million  two  hundred  and  sixteen  thousand  andsixty-seven  pop 
ular  votes,  George  B.  McClellan  and  G.  H.  Pendleton  receiv 
ing  twenty-one  electoral  and  one  million  eight  hundred  and 
eight  thousand  seven  hundred  and  twenty-five  popular  votes. 
Eleven  States  and  eighty-one  electors  were  not  represented 
in  this  election.  Of  twenty-five  voting  States  Lincoln  carried 
all  but  three. 

GRANT  was  chosen  in  1872  over  Horatio  Seymour  by  two 
hundred  and  fourteen  votes  of  the  Electoral  College  to  eighty, 
twenty-three  electors,  three  States,  not  represented.  Schuyler 
Colfax  and  Frank  P  Blair,  Jr.,  were  the  respective  Vice-Pres 
idential  nominees.  The  popular  vote  was  three  million  fifteen 
thousand  and  seventy-one,  for  Grant,  to  two  million  seven 
hundred  and  nine  thousand  six  hundred  and  thirteen  for  Sey 
mour.  At  the  election  of  1872  Grant  had  a  long  line  of  com 
petitors,  but  he  polled  three  million  five  hundred  and  ninety- 
seven  thousand  and  seventy  popular  votes,  and  two  hundred 
and  eighty-six  electoral  out  of  a  possible  three  hundred  and 
sixty-six.  All  the  States  voted.  His  competitors  on  various 
tickets  were  Horace  Greeley,  Charles  O' Conor,  James  Black, 
Thos.  A.  Hendricks,  Charles  J.  Jenkins,  and  David  Davis. 
Henry  Wilson  was  chosen  Vice-President,  overB.  Gratz  Brown, 
Geo.  W.  Julian,  A.  H.  Colquitt,  John  M.  Palmer,  T.  E.  Bram- 
lette,  W.  S.  Groesbeck,  Willis  B.  Machen,  and  N.  P.  Banks. 

HAYES  was  elected,  with  his  associate,  Wm.  A.  Wheeler,  in 
a  scattering  contest.  His  popular  vote  was  four  million  thirty- 
three  thousand  nine  hundred  and  fifty.  Samuel  J.  Tilden, 
(Democrat)  received  four  million  two  hundred  and  eighty- 
four  thousand  eight  hundred  and  eighty-five  votes.  Peter 
Cooper,  (Greenback)  eighty-one  thousand  seven  hundred  and 
forty.  Green  Clay  Smith  (Prohibition),  nine  thousand  five 
hundred  and  twenty-two,  and  two  thousand  six  hundred. and 


542  PRESIDENTIAL   CONTESTS. 

thirty-six  were  scattering.  T.  A.  Hendricks  was  Mr.  Tilden's 
associate.  The  disputed  vote  was  settled  by  an  Electoral  Com 
mission  which  awarded  Hayes  one  hundred  and  eighty-five 
electoral  votes  and  Tilden  one  hundred  and  eighty-four. 

GARFIELD  received,  in  1880,  a  popular  vote  of  four  million 
four  hundred  and  forty-nine  thousand  and  fifty-three,  and  an 
electoral  vote  of  two  hundred  and  fourteen,  together  with 
Chester  A.  Arthur,  his  associate.  Winfield  S.  Hancock  and 
William  H.  English  received  four  million  four  hundred  and 
forty-two  thousand  and  thirty-five  popular,  and  one  hundred 
and  fifty-five  electoral  votes.  The  Greenback  candidates, 
James  B.  Weaver  and  B.  J.  Chambers,  received  three  hundred 
and  seven  thousand  three  hundred  and  six  votes,  and  twelve 
thousand  five  hundred  and  seventy-six  were  reported  as  scat 
tering.  Thus  the  Republicans  held  the  Presidency  from  Lin 
coln's  election  in  1860. 


PRESIDENTIAL  ELECTIONS. 


643 


TABLES  OF  FBESIDENTIAL  ELECTIONS. 


IUMMARY  OF  POPULAR  AND  ELECTORAL  VOTES  FOR  PRESI 
DENT  AND  VICE-PRESIDENT  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES,  1789- 
1876. 


i 

!* 

1 

\ 

1 

*Q 

6 
X 

> 
i 

s 

I 

POLITICAL 
PARTY. 

*  PRESIDENTS. 

*  VICE-PRESIDEXTS. 

CANDIDATES. 

VOTE. 

CANDIDATES. 

Elect,  Vote. 

States. 

Popular. 

w 

1789 

1792 
1796 

1800 

tio 

15 
16 

16 

73 

135 

138 

138 

George  Washington 
John  Adams 

69 

34 
9 
6 
6 
4 
3 
2 
2 
1 
1 
1 
4 

John  Jay  

R.  H.  Harrison 

John  Rutledge 

John  Hancock  

George  Clinton 

Samuel  Huntingdon 
John  Milton    . 

James  Armstrong.. 

Benjamin  Lincoln.. 
Edward  Telfair.  . 

Federalist.  . 
Federalist.  . 
Republican 

Vacancies 

4 

George  Washington 
John  Adams 

13? 

77 
50 
4 
1 
3 

George  Clinton  

Thomas  Jefferson 

Aaron  Burr 

Federalist.  . 
Republican 
Federalist.. 
Republican 

i 

John  Adams  

71 

Thomas  Jefferson 

08 
59 
30 
15 
11 
7 
5 
3 
2 
2 
2 
1 

Thomas  Pinckney 

Aaron  Burr  
Samuel  Adams 

Oliver  Ellsworth 

George  Clinton  

John  Jay 

James  Iredell 

George  Washington 
John  Henry  .  .  . 

S  Johnson 

Charles  C.  Pinckney 
Thomas  Jefferson.  . 

Republican 
Republican 
Federalist.. 
Federalist.. 

|7? 

;s 

64 

1 

John  Adams 

Charles  C.  Pinckney 

*  Previous  to  the  election  of  1804  each  elector  voted  for  t\yo  candidates  for  President ;  the 
one  receiving  the  highest  number  of  votes,  if  a  majority,  wa«  declared  elected  President ; 
and  the  next  highest  V  ice-President. 

t  Three  States  out  of  thirteen  did  not  vote,  viz. :  New  York,  which  had  not  passed  an  etec- 
toral  law  ;  and  North  Carolina  and  Rhode  Island,  which  had  not  adopted  the  Constitution. 

\  There  having  been  a  tie  vote,  the  choice  devolved  upon  the  House  of  Representatives, 
A  choice  was  made  on  the  36th  ballot,  which  was  as  follow*  :  Jefferson— Georgia,  Kentucky. 
Maryland,  New  Jersey,  New  York,  North  Carolina,  Pennsylvania,  Tennessee,  Vermont,  and 
Virginia— 10  States:  Burr— Connecticut,  Massachusetts,  New  Hampshire,  aud  Rhode  island 
—4  Itotes ;  Blauk-Delaware  and.  South  Caroliua-2  Stated. 


644 


POPULAR  AND  ELECTORAL   VOTES. 


O  !£ 

1 

i 

6 
to 

cj 

^ 

s 

1 

POLITICAL 
PARTY. 

PRESIDENTS. 

VICB-PRESIDENTS. 

CANDIDATES. 

VOTE. 

CANDIDATES. 

1 

States. 

Popular. 

Electoral 

1804 

1808 

2812 
1816 

1820 
1824 

1828 
1832 

1836 

17 

18 
19 

21 
24 

21 
24 

26 

176 
176 

218 
221 

23r> 

2til 

288 

294 

Republican 
Federalist.. 

Republican 
Federalist.  . 

Thomas  Jefferson  .  . 
Charles  C.  Pinckney 

James  Madison.   .. 

15 
2 

Ifl 

'.'.::'.:::: 

162 
14 

122 
47 
6 

George  Clinton.  . 
Rufus  King  

George  Clinton.  . 
Rufus  King  
John  Langdon.. 
James  Madison. 
James  Monroe.. 

1G2 
14 

113 
47 
9 
3 
3 
1 

131 
86 
1 

183 

~5 

4 
3 

4 

218 
8 
4 
t 
1 
3 

182 
30 
24 

is 

9 
2 
1 

171 

83 
7 

139 
49 
11 
7 
30 
2 

147 
77 
47 
23 

Charles  C.  Pinckney 
George  Clinton  

5 

Republican. 
Federalist.  . 

Vacancy  

1 

James  Madison..  . 

11 

J 
*l 

Elbridge  Gerry.  . 
Jared  Ingersoll.  . 

De  Witt  Clinton 

7 

Vacancy  

Republican. 
Federalist.  . 

James  Monroe, 

16 

•s1 

D.  D.  Tompkine. 
John  E.  Howard 
James  Ross  
John  Marshall.. 
Robt.  G.  Harper. 

Rufus  King  

jj 

1 

Republican. 
Opposition. 

Vacancies  

A 

James  Monroe  

"1 

231 
1 

D.  D.  Tompkins. 
Rich.  Stockton.. 
Daniel  Rodney. 
Robt.  G.  Harper 
Richard  Rush... 

John  Q.  Adams 

Republican. 
Coalition... 
Republican. 
Republican. 

Vacancies  

• 

Andrew  Jackson.  .  . 
John  Q,.  Adams  
Wm.  H.  Crawford.  . 
Henry  Clay 

10 

8 

3 
3 

155,872 
105,321 
44,282 
46,587 

*<)<) 
84 
41 
37 

John  C.  Calhoun 
Nathan  Sanford. 
Nathaniel  Macon 
Andrew  Jackson 
M.  Van  Buren... 
Henry  Clay  

Democratic 
Nat.  Repub. 

Vacancy  

Andrew  Jackson... 
John  Q.  Adams  ... 

15 
9 

647,231 
509,097 

178 
83 

219 
49 
11 
7 

John  C.  Calhoun 
Richard  Rush.  .. 
William  Smith.. 

M.  Van  Buren... 
John  Sergeant.  .  . 
Henry  Lee 

Democratic 
Nat.  Repub. 

Andrew  Jackson... 
Henry  Clay  

15 

r 

i 
i 

687,502 
530,189 

33,108 

John  Floyd            ) 

Anti-Mason 

William  Wirt....  f 

Amos  Ellmaker. 
William  Wilkins 

Democratic. 
Whig  
Whig  

Whie 

Vacancies  

Martin  Van  Buren. 
Wm.  H.  Harrison"! 
Hugh  L.  White..  1 
Daniel  Webster.,  f 
W.  P.  Mangum...J 

15 

7 
2 
1 

761,549 
736,656 

170 
73 
26 
14 
11 

R.  M.  Johnsont. 
Francis  Granger. 
John  Tyler  
William  Smith.. 

Whi|  

1 

*  No  choice  having  been  made  by  the  Electoral  College,  the  choice  devolved  upon  the 
House  cf  Representatives.  A  choice  was  made  on  the  first  ballot,  which  WAS  as  follows: 
Adams— Connecticut,  Illinois,  Kentucky,  Louisiana,  Maine,  Maryland,  Massachusetts,  Mis 
souri,  New  Hampshire,  New  York,  Ohio,  Rhode  Island,  and  Vermont— 13  States ;  Jackson- 
Alabama,  Indiana,  Mississippi,  New  Jersey,  Pennsylvania,  South  Carolina,  and  Tennessee— 
7  States  ;  Crawford— Delaware,  Georgia,  North  Carolina,  and  Virginia— A  States. 

t  No  candidate  having  received  a  majority  of  the  votes  of  the  Electoral  College,  the  oen« 
»te  •leoted  R,  M,  Johnson.  Vice-i'rwidout,  who  received 33votca  i  rruuus  UuugcrrutcivcU.  19, 


POPULAR  AND  ELECTORAL  VOTES. 


645 


!i 
i 

w 
S 

0 

£ 

> 

£ 

POLITICAL 
PARTY. 

PRESIDENTS. 

VIOE-PRESIDBNTS. 

CANDIDATES. 

VOTE. 

CANDIDATES. 

Elect.  Veto. 

States. 

Popular. 

Electoral 

1840 

1844 
1848 
1852 
1856 
I860 

1864 
1868 
1872 

1876 
188 

26 

26 
30 
31 
31 
88 

*3G 
t37 
87 

38 

T 

•294 

275 
290 
•296 
29(3 

303 

314 
317 
866 

36<J 

3Gi 

Whig  
Democratic 
Liberty  

Win.  H.Harrison.. 
Martin  Van  Buren. 
James  G.  Birney... 

19 

7 

1,275,017 
1,128,702 
7,059 

•234 
60 

John  Tyler  
R.  M.  Johnson  .  . 

•234 

4S 

'ii 

1 

170 

105 

L.  W.  Tazewell. 
James  K.  Polk.. 

Geo.  M.Dallas.. 

T.  Frelinghuysen 

Democratic 
Whig 

James  K.  Polk  
Henry  Clay  
James  G.  Birney.  .  . 

Zachary  Taylor  
Lewis  Cass  
Martin  Van  Buren.  . 

Franklin  Pierce... 
Winfield  Scott  
John  P.  Hale  

James  Buchanan  .  .  . 
John  C.   Fremont.  . 
Millard  Fillmore... 

Abraham  Lincoln  .  . 
J.  C.  Breckinridge.  . 
John  Bell 

15 
11 

15 
15 

27 

4 

19 
11 
1 

17 
11 
8 

'2 

22 

3 
11 

26 

8 
3 

1,337,243 
1,299,068 
62,300 

1,360,101 
1,220,544 
291,263 

1,691,474 
1,386,578 
156,149 

1,838.169 
1,341,264 

874,534 

1,866,352 
845.763 
589,581 
1,375,157 

2,216,067 
1,808,725 

170 
105 

Liberty  — 

Whig  
Democratic 
Free  Soil... 

Democratic 
Whig  
Free  Dem.. 

Democratic 
Republican. 
American  .  . 

Republican. 
Democratic. 
Cons.  Union 
Ind.  Dem... 

Republican. 
Democratic 

Republican. 
Democratic. 

Republican. 
Dem.  &  Lib. 
Democratic. 
Temp'rance 

;« 

1-27 

;,, 
" 

174 
114 
8 

180 
72 
89 
1-2 

212 
21 
81 

Millard  Fillmore 
Wm.  O.  Butler.. 
Chas.F.  Adams. 

Wm.  R.  King.  .  . 
Wm.  A.  Graham 
Geo.  W.  Julian.  . 

J.  C.  Breckinr'ge 
Wm.  L.  Dayton. 
A.  J.  Donelson.  . 

Hannibal  Hamlin 
Joseph  Lane  
Edward  Everett. 
H.  V.  Johnson.. 

Andrew  Johnson 
jG.  H.  Pendleton. 

16E 

121 

254 
42 

174 
114 
8 

180 

i-z 

39 

12 

•212 
21 

81 

•314 

80 
23 

2.S8 
47 
5 
5 
3 
3 
1 
1 

14 

185 

184 

S.  A.  Douglas  

Abraham  Lincoln.. 
Geo.  B.  McClellan.  . 
Vacancies  

Ulysses  S.  Grant... 
Horatio  Seymour  .  . 
Vacancies  

3,015,071 
2,709,013 

1"" 
214!  Schuyler  Colfax. 
80i;F.  P.  Blair,  Jr... 

93  1 

Ulysses  S.  Grant... 
Horace  Greeley  
Charles  O'Conor... 
James  Black  
Thos.  A.  Hendricks 

:*i 
8 

3,597,070 
2,834,079 
29,408 
5,608 

28G 

'4-2 
18 
2 
1 

Henry  Wilson.  .. 
B.  Gratz  Brown  . 
Geo.  W.  Julian.. 
A.H.Colquitt... 
John  M.  Palmer. 
T.  E.  Bramlette. 
|W.  S.  Groesbeek 
Willis  B.Machen 
N.  P.  Banks  

B.  Gratz  Brown 

Charles  J.  Jenkins. 
David  Davis  

Republican. 
Democratic. 
Greenback.. 
Prohibition 

$  Not  Counted.  .  . 

17 

Rutherford  B.Hayes 
Samuel  J.Tilden... 
Peter  Cooper  

•21 
17 

4,033,950 

4,284,885 
81,740 

185 
184 

Wm.  A.  Wheeler 
T.  A.  Hendricks 

Green  Clay  Smith.. 
Scattering  

•• 

9,522 
2,636 

4,449.053 
4,442,035 
307.306 
12,576 

Kepuortcan. 
Democratic 
Greenback. 

.  James  A.  Garfleld... 
Winfleld  S.Hancock 
Jamea  B.  Weaver... 
.Scattering  

ID 
10 

314 

155 

Chester  A.  Arthur 
Wm.  H.  English- 
B.  J.  Chambers- 

214 

155 

[  Three  States  did  not  vote,  viz.:  Mississippi,  Texas,  and  Virginia. 
Three  electoral  votes  of  Georgia  cast  for  Horace  Greele,  and  the  v 


646  NATIONAL  ELECTIONS. 

THE  PRESIDENTIAL  ELECTION. 

The  Presidential  election  will  take  place  on  Tuesday, 
November  4th,  1884.  The  Constitution  prescribes  that  each 
State  shall  appoint,  in  such  manner  as  the  Legislature  thereof 
may  direct,  a  number  of  electors  equal  to  the  whole  number 
of  Senators  and  Representatives  to  which  the  State  may  be 
entitled  in  Congress.  For  the  election  this  year  the  electors 
by  States  will  be  as  follows : 

States.  Electoral         States.  Electoral 

Vote.  Vote. 

Alabama 10  Missouri 16 

Arkansas 7  Nebraska 5 

California SjNevada ...  3 

Colorado 3  New  Hampshire 4 

Connecticut 6  New  Jersey 9 

Delaware 3  New  York 36 

Florida 4'  North  Carolina n 

Georgia i2|Ohio 23 

Illinois 22  Oregon 3 

Indiana 15  Pennsylvania 30 

Iowa  13  Rhode  Island 4 

Kansas 9  South  Carolina 9 

Kentucky 13  Tennessee 12 

Louisiana 8  Texas 13 

Maine  6  Vermont 4 

Maryland 8  Virginia 12 

Massachusetts 14  West  Virginia 6 

Michigan 13  Wisconsin n 

M  innesota 7 ! 

Mississippi 9         Total . 401 

Necessary  to  a  choice,  201. 

No  Senator  or  Representative,  or  person  holding  an  office  of 
profit  or  trusj;  under  the  United  States,  shall  be  an  elector. 
In  all  the  States,  the  laws  thereof  direct  that  the  people  shall 
choose  the  electors.  The  Constitution  declares  that  the  day 
when  electors  are  chosen  shall  be  the  same  throughout  the 
United  States.  The  electors  shall  meet  in  their  respective 
States  on  the  first  Wednesday  in  December,  and  vote  by  ballot 
for  President  and  Vice-President,  one  of  whom  at  least  shall 
not  be  an  inhabitant  of  the  same  State  as  themselves. 


QUALIFICATIONS  FOR   VOTERS. 
QUALIFICATIONS  FOR  VOTERS. 


647 


STATES. 

£ 

< 

21 
21 
21 
21 
21 
21 

21 

21 
21 
21 

21 
21 
21 
21 
21 
21 
21 
21 
21 
21 
21 
21 
21 
21 
21 
21 
21 

21 
21 
21 
21 
21 
21 

Requirement 
as  to 
Citizenship. 

Residence 
in 

Registration. 

v 

5 

01 

>> 

a 

3 

o 
U 

Alabama 

Citizens  or  declared  intention. 
Citizens  or  declared  intention. 
Actual  citizens 

I  yr. 
lyr. 

A7"' 
6  mo 

i  yr. 
lyr. 

I  yr. 

i  yr. 
lyr. 
6  mo 
6  mo 
6  mo 
2  yrs 
I  yr. 
3  mo 
i  yr. 
I  vr. 

3  mo 
6  mo 
gods 

No  law. 
Prohibited. 
Required. 
Required. 
Required. 
Not  required. 

Required. 

No  law. 
Required. 
No  law. 
Required. 
Req'd  in  cities 
Not  required. 
No  law. 
Required. 
Required. 
Required. 
Required. 
Required. 
Required. 
Req'd  in  cities 
Required. 
Required. 
Required. 
Req'd  in  cities 
Req'd  in  cities 
Required. 
Not  required. 

Required. 
Required. 
Required. 
Not  required. 
Prohibited. 
Required. 
Required. 
Prohibited. 
Required. 

Arkansas  
California  .... 
Colorado  
Connecticut... 
Delaware  

Florida 

Citizens  or  declared  intention. 
Actual  citizens  ... 

6  mo 
i  mo 

6  mo 

6  mo 
gods 
6ods 
6ods 

6  mo 
6  mo 

Actual  County  taxpayers  

f  United  States   citizens  or  ") 
\      declared  intention  J 
Actual  citizens 

Oeorofia 

Illinois 

Actual  citizens. 

Indiana  
Iowa 

Citizens  or  declared  intention. 
Actual  citizens.. 

Kansas 

Citizens  or  declared  intention. 
Free  white  male  citizens  
Citizens  or  declared  intention. 
Actual  citizens  

Kentucky 

Louisiana  
Maine  
Maryland  
Massachusetts. 
Michigan 

Actual  citizens  . 

Citizens  

Citizens  or  declared  intention. 
Citizens  or  declared  intention. 
Actual  citizens  

3  mo 
4mo 
6  mo 
I  yr. 
6  mo 
6  mo 

I  mo 

6ods 

3ods 
5  mo 
4  mo 
gods 

Minnesota  
Mississippi.  ... 
Missouri. 

Citizens  or  declared  intention. 
Citizens  or  declared  intention. 
Citizens  or  declared  intention. 
Actual  citizens 

Nebraska 

Nevada.. 

N.  Hampshire 
New  Jersey... 
New  York.... 
N.  Carolina... 
Ohio  

Actual  citizens  

,.. 

yr. 

Actual  citizens.. 

Actual  citizens  

Actual  citizens  

yr. 

Oregon... 

Citizens  or  declared  intention. 
Actual  citizens  

6  mo 
yr. 

Pennsylvania  . 
Rhode  Island 
S.  Carolina.... 
Tennessee  
Texas 

Actual  tax-paying  citizens  
Actual  citizens  

yr. 
yr. 
yr. 

yf- 

yr. 

6ods 
6  mo 
6  mo 

Actual  citizens  

Citizens  or  declared  intention. 
Actual  citizens  

Vermont  
Virginia...  
W.Virginia... 
Wisconsin  

Actual  citizens  .              

yr. 

Actual  citizens  .  .                

lyr. 
lyr. 

6ods 

Citizens  or  declared  intention. 

NOTE. — In  several  States  women  are  permitted  to  vote  on  the  school  questions,  selec 
tion  of  directors,  etc. 


648 


HOMES  OF   THE   PRESIDENTS. 


PRESIDENTS  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 


Presi 
dential 

Name. 

Qualified. 

Born. 

Died. 

Term. 

I 

2 

George  Washington.. 
George  Washington.. 

April  30,  1789 
March  4,  1793 

Feb.  22,  1732 

Dec.  14,  1799 

3 

John  Adams  March  4,    i7g7|Oct.   19  1735, 

July      4,  1826 

4 
5 

Thomas  Jefferson.... 
Thomas  Jefferson  

March  4,    1801  A     ., 
March  4,   i8o5jAPri1   2>  !?43 

July     4,  1826 

6 

7 

James  Madison. 

March  4,    1809',,      , 
March  4,    i8i3JMarch5'  W 

June  28,  1836 

James  Madison  

8 
9 

James  Monroe  
James  Monroe  . 

March  4.   1817  .      .,    0 
March   5,  1821  APnl28'I?5« 

July     4,  1  8^  i 

10 

John  Quincy  Adams. 

March  4,  1825  July    n,  1767 

Feb.  23,  1848 

ii 

12 

Andrew  Jackson  

S  I!   II^M-  -5,  .76; 

June    8,  I  45 

Andrew  Jackson  

J3 

Martin  Van  Buren... 

March  4,    1837  Dec.     5,  1782 

July    24,  1862 

14 

Wm.   H.   Harrison.* 

March  4,   1841 

Feb.     9,  1  773;  April   4,  1841 

John  Tyler     . 

April      6,  1841 

Mar.  29,  1790  Tan.    17    1862 

1C 

fames  K.   Polk.. 

March    4,  1845 

Nov.    2    I79S  Tune  i^    1840 

J 

16 

Zachary  Taylor* 

March    5,  1849 
July       9,  1850 

Nov.  24,  1  7841  July     9,  1850 
Jan.      7,  1800 

Millard    Fillmore  

17 

Franklin  Pierce  

March   4,  1853 

Nov.  23,  1804 

Oct.     8   1869 

18 

James  Buchanan  

March  4,    1857 

April22,  1791 

June     i,  1868 

19 

20 

Abraham  Lincoln.... 
Abraham  Lincoln  *.. 

March  4,    1861 
March  4,    1865 

Feb.   12,  1809 

April  15,  1865 

Andre  w  Johnson  

April    15,  1865  Dec.  29,  1808 

July    30,  1875 

21 
22 

Ulysses  S.  Grant  ..  ... 
Ulysses  S.  Grant  

March  4,    1869 
March  4,    1871 

April  27,  1822 

23 

Rutherford  B.  Hayes  March    5,  1877 

Oct.     4,  1822 

24 

James  A.  Garfield*  ...  March    4,  1881 

Nov.  19,  1831 

Sept.  19,  1  88  1 

Chester  A.  Arthur.  ...[Sept'r  20,  1881 

Oct.      5,  1830 

Total  number  of  incumbents,  21. 


Died  in  office. 


HOMES  OF  THE  PRESIDENTS. 


Washington 

Adams 


Native  State. 


Whence  Elected. 


Virginia 

Massachusetts 

Virginia 


Massachusetts 


Virginia. 

Massachusetts. 

Virginia. 


Massachusetts. 


Jeffjrson 
Madison. 
Monroe  . 

Adams,  J.  Quincy  

Jackson 

Van  Buren JNew  York ^JNew  York. 

Harrison Virginia Ohio. 

Tyler '       Virginia. 

Polk North  Carolina Tennessee. 

Taylor Virgini  i Louisiana. 

Fillmore I  New  York 'New  York. 

Pierce [ !..'."  iNew  Hampshire...  New  Hampshire. 

Buchanan i  Pennsylvania Pennsylvania. 

Lincoln 'Kentucky Illinois. 

Johnson _ : North  Carolina Tennessee. 

Grant JQhio 'Illinois. 

Hayes «  .Ohio. 

Garfield •«     ' 

Arthur ,  ";  New  York....       ,..jNew  York. 


VICE-PRESIDENTS. 
VICE-PRESIDENTS  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 


Vice- 
Fres. 
Terni 

Name. 

Qualified. 

Born. 

Died. 

I 

Tune     3,  1780  ) 

2 

John  Adams  

Dec.      2,  1793  | 

1735 

1826 

? 

March  4,  1  797 

1743 

1826 

March  4   1801 

17^6 

1836 

c 

George  Clinton 

March  4   1805  "I 

6 

George  Clinton* 

March  4,  1  809  J 

1739 

1812 

*7 

William  H.  Crawfordf  
Elbridge  Gerry* 

April  10,  1812 
March  4,  1813 

1772 

1744. 

1834 

1814 

John   Gaillard* 

Nov.  25,  1814 

To_/- 

8 

Daniel  D.  Tompkins  

March  4,  1817  ") 

Daniel  D.  Tompkins..        .    . 

March  5,  1821  / 

1744 

1825 

10 

John  C.  Calhoun  

March  4,  1825  ") 

ii 

John  C  Calhoun  J   

March  4,  1829  / 

1782 

1850 

Hugh  L.  Whitef  

Dec.  28,  1832 

1773 

1840 

12 

Vtartin  VanBuren... 

March  4,  1833 

1782 

1862 

13 

Richard  M.  Johnson  

March  4,  1837 

1780 

i8c;o 

14- 

[ohn  Tyler?                          . 

March  4    1841 

I7OO 

1862 

Samuel  L.  Southard"]" 

April    6   1841 

1787 

1842 

Willie  P.  Mangumf  

May    31,  1842 

I7Q2 

1861 

15 

George  M.  Dallas  

March  4,  1845 

I7Q2 

1864 

16 

Millard  Fillmoref. 

March  5    1849 

l8oo 

1869 

William  R.  Kingf  

July    ii.  i8?o  ) 

17 

William  R.  King*    .  .    . 

March  4,  1853  / 

1786 

1853 

David  R.  Atchison^ 

April  1  8,  1853 

I8O7 

Jesse  D.  Bright  f.          .     .. 

Dec.      c,  18^4 

1812 

18 

ohn  C.  Breckenridge.       .    .. 

March  4,  1857 

1821 

T87C 

19 

rlannibal  Hamlin  

March  4   1861 

l8oq 

20 

March  4,  1865 

1808 

1875 

Lafayette  S.  Fosterf  

April  15,  1865 

I8o6 

Benjamin  F.  Wadef  

March  2,  1867 

1800 

21 

Schuyler  Colfax  

March  4,  1869 

1823 

22 

Henry  Wilson*  

March  4,  1873 

1812 

187? 

Thomas  W.  Ferry  j- 

NOV.    22,  1875 

l827 

2T. 

William  A.  Wheeler  

March  5,  1877 

1810 

24 

Chester  A.  Arthur  $. 

March  4,  1881 

"7 
1830 

David  Davis  f..        .... 

Oct.    13,  1881 

1815 

George  F.  Edmundsf  

March  3,  1883 

1828 

*  Died  in   office,     f  Acting  Vice-President   and  President  pro  tern,  of  the  Senate. 
\  Resigned  the  Vice-Presidency,     g  Became  President. 


CABINETS  OF  THE  PRESIDENTS. 

GEORGE  WASHINGTON:     April  30,  1789 — March  4,  1797  (two  terms). 
Secretary  of  State:  Thomas  Jefferson,  appointed  Sept.  26,  1789 

"  Edmund  Randolph,  "  Jan.  2,  1794 

"  "  Timothy  Pickering,  "          Dec.  10,  1795 


650 


CA&INETS  OF  THE  PRESIDENTS. 


Secretary  of  Treasury: 

f<  41 

War: 


Postmaster-  General; 


Attorney-  General: 


Alexander  Hamilton, 
Oliver  Wolcott, 
Henry  Knox, 
Timothy  Pickering, 
James  McHenry, 
Samuel  Osgood, 
Timothy  Pickering, 
Joseph  Habersham, 
Edmund  Randolph, 
William  Bradford, 
Charles  Lee, 


appointed  Sept.  n,  1789 

Feb.  2,  1795 

"          Sept.  12,  1789 

Jan.  2,  1795 

Jan.  27,  1796 

Sept.  26,  1789 

"          Aug.  12,  1791 

Feb.  25,  1795 

"          Sept.  26,  1789 

Jan.  27,  1794 

Dec.  10,  1795 


JOHN  ADAMS:  March  4,  1797 — March  4,  1801  (one  term). 

Secretary  of  State  :          Timothy  Pickering,       appointed    March  4,  1 797 

"               John  Marshall,  "  May  13,  1800 

Treasury:  Oliver  Wolcott,  "  March  4,  1797 

"                     "           Samuel  Dexter,  "  Jan.  i,  1801 

"              War:           James  McHenry,  "  March  4,  1797 

"                 "               Samuel  Dexter,  "  May  13,  1800 

"                 "               Rodger  Griswold,  "  Feb.  3,1801 

"             Navy:          Benjamin  Stoddart,  "  May  21,  1798 

Postmaster-  General:        Joseph  Habersham,  "  March  4,  1 797 

Attorney- General:  Charles  Lee,  "  March  4,  1797 

"  "  Theophilus  Parsons,  "  Feb.  20,  1801 

THOMAS  JEFFERSON:  March  4,  1801 — March 
Secretary  of  State  :         James  Madison, 
"    "          Treasury:  Albert  Gallatin, 


War: 
"  Navy: 

i'  « 

<«  « 

Postmaster-  General 

Attorney-  General: 


4,  1809  (two  terms), 
appointed  March  5,  1801 

"  May  14,  1801 

Henry  Dearborn,                    "  March  5,  1801 

Benjamin  Stoddert,                 *'  March  4,1801 

Robert  Smith,                         "  .  July  15,  1801 

J.  Crowninshield,                    "  March  3,  1805 

Joseph  Habersham,                "  March  4,  1801 

Gideon  Granger,                     "  Nov.  28,  1801 

Levi  Lincoln,                          "  March  5,  1801 

Robert  Smith,                         "  March  3,  1805 

"                 John  Breckinridge,                  "  Aug.  7,  1805 

Caesar  A.  Rodney,                  "  Jan.  28,  1807 

JAMES  MADISON:  March  4,  1809 — March  4,  1817  (two  terms). 

Secretary  of  State  :  Robert  Smith,  appointed  March  6,  1809 

"  "  James  Monroe,  "  April  2,  1811 

"  Treastiry :  Albert  Gallatin,  "  March  4,  1809 

"  "  George  W.  Campbell,  "  Feb.  9,  1814 

"  "  Alexander  J.  Dallas,  "  Oct.  6,  1814 

"  "  William  H.  Crawford,  "  Oct.  22,  1816 

"  War:  William  Eustis,  "  March  7,  1809 

"  "  John  Armstrong,  "  Jan.  13,  1813 

"  "  James  Monroe,  "  Sept.  27,  1814 

"  "  William  H.  Crawford,  "  Aug.  I,  1815 

"  Naw:  Paul  Hamilton,  "  March  7,  1809 

"  "  \VTilliam  Jones,  «  Jan.  12,  1813 

"  "  B.  W.  Crowninshield,  "  Dec.  19,  1814 


CABINETS  OF  THE  PRESIDENTS. 


651 


Postmaster-  General: 


Attorney-  General : 


Gideon  Granger, 
Return  J.  Meigs,  Jr., 
Caesar  A,  Rodney, 
William  Pinkney, 
Richard  Rush, 


appointed  March  4,  iScxf 

"  March  17,  1814 

"  March  4,  1809 

"  Dec.  11,  1811 

"  Feb.  10,  1814 


JAMES  MONROE;  March  4,  1817 — March  4,  1825  (two terms). 


Secretary  of  State:          John  Quincy  Adams, 
Treasury    William  H.  Crawford, 
George  Graham, 
John  C.  Calhoun, 
B.  W.  Crowninshield, 
Smith  Thompson, 
Samuel  L.  Southard, 
Return  J.  Meigs,  Jr., 
John  McLean, 
Richard  Rush, 
William  Wirt, 


War: 


Navy  : 


Postmaster-  General : 
a  <« 

Attorney-  General : 


appointed  March  5,  1817 

"          March  5,  1817 

ad  interim. 

Oct.  8,  1817 

''         March  4,  1817 

"  Nov.  9,  1818 

Sept.  16,  1823 

"          March  4,  1817 

"          June  26,  1823 

"          March  4,  1817 

"          Nov.  13,  1817 


JOHN  QUINCY  ADAMS  :  March  4,  1825- 
Secretary  of  State  :          Henry  Clay, 
"  Treasury  :  Richard  Rush, 


War: 
«  « 

"  Navy  : 

Postmaster-  General. 
Attorney-  General : 


James  Barbour, 
Peter  B.  Porter, 
Samuel  L.  Southard, 
John  McLean, 
William  Wirt, 


March  4,  1829  (one  term). 

appointed  March  7,  1825 
"          March  7,  1825 
March  7,  1825 
"  May  26,  1828 

"  March  4,  1825 
"  March  4,  1825 
"  March  4,  1825 


ANDREW  JACKSON:  March  4,  1829 — March  4, 

Secretary  of  State  :  Martin  Van  Buren, 

"  "  Edward  Livingston, 

"  "  Louis  McLane, 

««  "  John  Forsyth, 

"  Treasury  :  Samuel  D.  Ingham, 

"  "  Louis  McLane, 

"  "  William  J.  Duane, 

"  "  Roger  B.  Taney, 

"  "  Levi  Woodbury, 

"    '          War :  John  H.  Eaton, 

"  "  Lewis  Cass, 

"  Navy :  John  Branch, 

"  "  Levi  Woodbury, 

"  "  Mahlon  Dickerson, 

Postmaster- General:  William  T.  Barry, 

"  "  Amos  Kendall, 

Attorney- General:  John  M.  Berrien, 
Roger  B.  Taney, 

"  "  Benjamin  F.  Butler, 

MARTIN  VAN  BUREN:  March  4,  1837 — March 
Secretary  of  State  :          John  Forsyth, 
"  Treasury  :  Levi  Woodbury, 

"  War:         Joel  R.  Poinsett, 


1837  (two  terms), 
appointed  March  6,  1829 
"  May  24,  1831 

May  29,  1833 
June  27,  1834 
"          March  6,  1829 
Aug.  2,  1831 
"  May  29,  1833 

Sept.  23,  1833 
June  27,  1834 
"          March  9,  1829 
«  Aug.  I,  1831 

"          March  9,  1829 
"  May  23,  1831 

"  June  30,  1834 

"  March  9,  1829 

"  May  i,  1835 

"          March  9,  1829 
20,  1831 
ov.  15,  1833 

4,  1841  (one  term), 
appointed  March  4,  1837 
"  March  4,  1837 

March  7,  1837 


652 


CABINETS  OF  THE  PRESIDENTS. 


Secretary  of  Navy  : 
«  « 

Postmaster-  General. 
«  « 

Attorney-  General : 


Mahlon  Dickerson, 
James  K.  Paulding, 
Amos  Kendal, 
John  M.  Niles, 
Benjamin  F.  Butler, 
Felix  Grundy, 
Henry  D.  Gilpin, 


appointed    March  4,  1837 

"  June  25,  1838 

"          March  4,  1837 

"  May  25,  1840 

"          March  4,  1837 

July  5,  1838 

Jan.  n,  1840 


WILLIAM  H.  HARRISON:  March  4,  1841 — April  6,  1841  (partial  term). 


Secretary  of  State  : 
"  Treasury 

"  War: 

"  Navy: 

Postmaster-  General: 
Attorney-  General : 


Daniel  Webster, 
Thomas  Ewing, 
John  Bell, 
George  E.  Badger, 
Francis  Granger, 
John  J.  Crittenden, 


appointed  March  5,  1841 
March  5,  1841 
March  5,  1841 
March  5,  1841 
March  6,  1841 
March  5,  1841 


JOHN  TYLER:  April  6,  1841 — March  4,  1845  (partial  term). 


Secretary  of  State  : 


War 
it- 


Postmaster-  General : 
«  « 

Attorney-  General: 


Daniel  Webster, 
Hugh  S.  Legare, 
Abel  P.  Upshur, 
John  C.  Calhoun, 
Treasury  :  Thomas  Ewing, 
"  Walter  Forward, 

"  John  C.  Spencer, 

George  M.  Bibb, 
John  Bell, 
John  C.  Spencer, 
James  M.  Porter, 
William  Wilkins, 
George  E.  Badger, 
Abel  P.  Upshur, 
David  Henshaw, 
Thomas  W.  Gilmer, 
John  Y.  Mason, 
Francis  Granger, 
Charles  A.  Wickliffe, 
John  J.  Crittenden, 
Hugh  S.  Legare, 
John  Nelson, 


appointed    April  6,  1841 

"  May  9,  1843 

July  24,  1843 

March  6,  1844 

"  April  6,  1841 

Sept.  13,  1841 

"          March  3,  1843 

"  June  15,  1844 

"  April  6,  1841 

Oct.  12,  1841 

"          March  8,  1843 

"  June  15,  1844 

April  6,  1841 

Sept.  13,  1841 

July  24,  1843 

Feb.  15,  1844 

"        March  14,  1844 

"  April  6,  1841 

"  Sept.  13,  1841 

"  April  6,  1841 

"  Sept.  13,  1841 

July  I,  1843 


JAMES  K.  POLK:  March 4,  1845 — March  5,  1849  (one  term). 
James  Buchanan, 


Secretary  of  State  : 
"  Treasury 

"  War  : 

"  Navy  : 

«  « 

Postmaster-  General: 
Attorney-  General : 


Robert  J.  Walker, 
William    L.  Marcy, 
George  Bancroft, 
John  Y.  Mason, 
Cave  Johnson, 
John  Y.    Mason, 
Nathan  Clifford, 
Isaac  Toucey, 


appointed  March  6,  1845 
"         March  6,  1845 
March  6,  1845 
March   10,  1845 
Sept.  9,  1846 
March  6,    1845 
March  6,  1845 
Oct.   17,  1846 
June  21,  1848 


CABINETS  OF  THE  PRESIDENTS. 


653 


ZACHARY  TAYLOR  :  March  5,  1849— July  9,  1850  (partial  term). 
Secretary  of  State  :          John  M.  Clayton,  appointed  March  7,  1849 

J     J       .  %**•««•  -» r     •»  if J!A.T_  i  TVT^*.^V»   Q     T  Q  *  r\ 


War: 

"  Navy  : 

(t  Interior 

Postmaster-  General : 
Attorney-  General  : 


Treasury  :  William  M.  Meredith, 
George  W.  Crawford, 
William  B.  Preston, 
Thomas  Ewing, 
Jacob  Collamer, 
Reverdy  Johnson, 


MILLARD  FILLMORE:  July  9,  1850—  March  4, 


Secretary  of  State  : 


War . 

Navy . 


Postmaster-  General  : 


Attorney-General 


Daniel  Webster, 
Edward  Everett, 

Treasury :  Thomas  Corwin, 

Charles  M.  Conrad, 
William  A.  Graham, 
John  P.  Kennedy, 

Interior:     Alex.  H.  H.  Stuart, 
Nathan  K.  Hall, 
Samuel  D.    Hubbard, 
John  J.  Crittenden, 


March  8,  1849 
March  8,  1849 
March  8,  1849 
March  8,  1849 
March  8,  1849 
March  8,  1849 


1853  (partial  term). 

appointed  July  22,  1850 
"  Nov.  6,  1852 

July  23,  1850 
Aug.  15,  1850 
July  22,  1850 

July  22,  1852 
Sept.  12,  1850 

July  23,  1850 
Aug.  31,  1852 

July  22,  1850 


FRANKLIN  PIERCE:  March  4,  1853— March  4,  18^7  (one  term). 


Secretary  of  State  :         William  L.  Marcy, 
"  Treasury  :  James  Guthrie, 

War: 

"  Navy: 

"  Interior: 

Postmaster-  General: 


Attorney-  General: 


Jefferson  Davis, 
James  C.  Dobbin, 
Robert  McClelland, 
James  Campbell, 
Caleb  Gushing, 


appointed  March  7,  1853 
March  7,  1853 
March  5,  1853 
March  7,  1853 
March  7,  1853 
March  5,  1853 
March  7,  1853 


JAMES  BUCHANAN:  March  4,  1857— March  4, 

Lewis  Cass, 
Jeremiah  S.  Black, 
Howell  Cobb, 
Philip  F.  Thomas, 
John  A.  Dix, 
John  B.  Floyd, 
Joseph  Holt, 
Isaac  Toucey, 
Jacob  Thompson, 
Aaron  V.  Brown, 
Joseph  Holt, 
Horatio  King, 
Jeremiah  S.  Black, 
Edwin  M.  Stanton, 


Secretary  of  State: 
«  " 

"  Treasury 

u  << 

«  " 

"  War: 

"  Navy: 

"  Interior: 

Postmaster-  General: 
«  " 

«  << 

Attorney-  General: 


1861    (one  term). 

appointed  March  6, 
Dec.  17, 
March  6, 
Dec.  12, 

Jan.  n, 
March  6, 

Jan.  18, 
March  6, 
March  6, 
March  6, 
March  14, 

Feb.  12, 
March  6, 

Dec.  20, 


1857 
1860 

i857 
1860 
1861 

i857 
1861 

1857 
i857 
1857 
1859 
1861 

1857 
1860 


ABRAHAM  LINCOLN:  March  4,  1861— April  15,  1865  (one  term  and  a 

part). 

Secretary  of  State  :          William  H.  Seward,  appointed  March  5,  1861 

«    '        Treasury:    Salmon  P.  Chase,  March  7,  1861 


654 


CABINETS  OF  THE  PRESIDENTS. 


Secretary  of  Treasury:  William  P.  Fessenden,      appointed     July  I,  1864 

Hugh  McCulloch, 

March  7,  1865 

•*               War:          Simon  Cameron, 

"          March  5,  1861 

"              Edwin  M.  Stanton, 

"           Jan.  15,  1862 

Navy:        Gideon  Welles, 

March  5,  1861 

'              Interior:    Caleb  B.  Smith, 

"         March  5,  1861 

John  P.  Usher, 

"              Jan.  8,  1863 

Postmaster-  General  :       Montgomery  Blair,   ' 

"          March  5,  1861 

"                 f(              William  Dennison, 

"          Sept.  24,  1864 

Attorney-  General  :          Edward  Bates, 

"          March  5,  1861 

Titian  J.  Coffey,  ad  int., 

"          June  22,  1863 

"               James  Speed, 

Dec.  2,  1864 

ANDREW  JOHNSON:  April  15,  1865  —  March  4,  1869  (partial  term). 

Secretary  of  State  :          William  H.  Seward,        appointed  April  15,  1865 

"               Elihu  B.  Washburne, 

March  5,  1869 

"             Treasury  :   Hugh  McCulloch, 

"         April  15,  1865 

"             War:           Edwin  M.  Stanton, 
Ulysses  S.  Grant,  ad  int., 

"          April  15,  1865 
"          Aug.  12,  1868 

"                 "               Lorenzo  Thomas 

"          Feb.  21,  1868 

John  M.  Schofield, 

May  28,  1868 

Navy  :         Gideon  Welles, 

"         April  15,  1865 

"             Interior  :     John  P.  Usher, 

"         April  15,  1865 

"                   "             James  Harlan, 

"           May  15,  1865 

Orville  H.  Browning, 

"           July  27,  1866 

Postmaster-  General  ':       William  Dennison, 

"         April  15,  1865 

Alexander  W.  Randall, 

Attorney-  General  :          James  Speed, 

"           July  25,  1866 
"         April  15,  1865 

tf              "                 Henry  Stanbery, 

July  23,  1866 

"              "                 William  M.  Evarts, 

"           July  15,  1868 

ULYSSES  S.  GRANT:  March  4,  1869—  March  5,  1877  (two  terms). 

Secretary  of  State  :           Hamilton  Fish,               appointed  March  II,  i86q 

"             Treasury  :  George  S.  Bout  well, 

'         March  n,  1869 

William  A.  Richardson, 

'         March  17,  1873 

"                   "             Benjamin  H.  Bristow, 

June  4,  1674 

"                   "            Lot  M.  Morrill, 

July  7,  1876 

"             War  :          John  A.  Rawlins, 

'         March  n,  1869 

William  W.  Belknap, 

'            Oct.  25,  1869 

"                 "              Alphonso  Taft, 

«           March  8,  1876 

"                 "              James  D.  Cameron, 

«             May  22,  1876 

Navy  :         Adolph  E.  Borie, 

'           March  5,  1869 

"                 "              George  M.  Robeson, 

«             June  25,  1869 

"             Interior  :     Jacob  D.  Cox, 

•            March  5,  1869 

"                   "             Columbus  Delano, 

"              Nov.  i,  1870 

"                   "             Zachariah  Chandler, 

«            Oct.  19,  1875 

Postmaster-  General  :      John  A.  J.  Creswell, 

«           March  5,  1869 

Marshall  Jewell, 

1           Aug.  24,  1874 

James  N.  Tyner. 

July  12,  1876 

Attorney-  General  :           E.  Rockwood  Hoar, 

«           March  5,  1869 

"                 Amos  T.  Akerman, 

«            June  23,  1870 

George  H.  Williams,            "            Dec.  14,  1871 

"              "                 Edwards  Pierrepont, 

"           April  26,  1875 

"              "                 Alphonso  Taft,                      "            May  29,  1876 

COMMANDERS  OF  THE  U.  S.  ARMY. 


RUTHERFORD  B.  HAYES  :    March  5,  1877  —  March  4,  1881   (one  term). 


Secretary  of  State  :          William  M.  Evarts, 
Treasury  :  John  Sherman, 
War  :  George  W.  McCrary, 

"  Alexander  Ramsey, 

Navy  :          Richard  W.  Thompson, 
Nathan  GofF,  Jr., 
Carl  Schurz, 
David  McK.  Key, 
Horace  Maynard, 
Charles  Devens, 


appointed  March  12,  1877 
*  March    8,  1877 

March  12,  1877 
Dec.  10,  1879 
'  March  12,  1877 

Jan.    6,  1 88 1 
1  March  12,  1877 

*'  March  12,  1877 

June    2,  1880 
"  March  12,  1877 


Interior  : 

Postmaster-  General : 
a  « 

Attorney-  General : 

JAMES  A.  GARFIELD:  March  4,  1881 — September  19, 1881  (partial  term). 

appointed  March  5,  1881 
March  5,  1 88 1 
March  5,  1881 
March  5,  1881 
March  5,  1 88 1 
March  5,  1881 
March  5,  1881 


Secretary  of  State  : 
((  Treasury 

War: 

"  Navy  : 

"  Interior . 

Postmaster-  General : 
Attorney-  General : 


James  G.  Elaine, 
William  Windom, 
Robert  T.  Lincoln, 
William  H.  Hunt, 
Samuel  T.  Kirkwood, 
Thomas  L.  James, 
Wayne  MacVeagh, 


CHESTER  A.  ARTHUR,  September  20,  1881- 

Secretary  of  State  : 

"  Treasury : 

War: 

"  Navy: 

"  Interior: 

Postmaster-  General: 
Attorney-  General  : 


F.  T.  Frelinghuysen, 
Charles  J.  Folger, 
Robert  T.  Lincoln, 
William  E.  Chandler, 
Henry  M.  Teller, 
Timothy  O.  Howe, 
Benjamin  H.  Brewster, 


appointed  Dec.  12,  1881 
"  Oct.  27,  1881 

Sept.  20,  1 88 1 
"  April    i,  1882 

April  6,  1882 
Dec.  20,  1 88 1 
Dec.  19,  1881 


COMMANDERS  OF  THE  U.  S.  ARMY— 1775-1884. 


Major-General  George  Washington June  15,  1775,  to  December  23,  1783. 

Major-General  Henry  Knox December  23,  1783,  to  June  20,  1784. 

Lieutenant-Colonel  Josiah  Harmer,  gener- 
al-in-chief  by  brevet September,  1788,  to  March,  1791. 

Major-General  Arthur  St.  Clair March  4,  1791,  to  March,  1792. 

Major-General  Anthony  Wayne April  u,  1792,  to  December  15,  1796. 

Major-General  James  Wilkinson December  15,  1796,  to  July.  1798. 

Lieutenant-General  George  Washington. ..July  3,  1798,  to  his  death,  December  14,  1799. 

Major-General  James  Wilkinson June,  1800,  to  January,  1812. 

Major-General  Henry  Dearborn January  27,  1812,  to  June,  1815. 

Major-General  Jacob  Brown June,  1815,  to  February  21,  1828 

Major-General  Alexander  Macomb May  24,  1828,  to  June,  1841. 

Major-General  Winfield  Scott  (brevet  Lieu 
tenant-General) June,  1841,  to  November  i,  1861. 

Major-General  George  B.McClellan November  i,  1861,  to  March  n,  1862. 

Major-General  Henry  W.  Halleck July  n,  1862,  to  March  12,  1864. 

Lieutenant- General  Ulysses  S.  Grant March  12    1864,  to  July  25,  1866,  and  as  Gen 
eral  to  March  4,  1869. 

General  William  T.  Sherman March  4,  1869,  to  November  i    1883. 

Lieutenant-General  Philip  H.  Sheridan. ...Since  November  i    1883. 


656 


CHIEF  OFFICERS  OF  THE  U.  S.  NA  VY. 


CHIEF  OFFICERS  OF  THE  U.  S.  ARMY. 

Entered  the  Army. 

General  of  the  Army Lieut. -Gen.  Philip  H.  Sheridan 1853 

Major-Generals Winfield  S.  Hancock 1844 

John  M.  Schofield 1853 

John  Pope 1842 

Brigadier- Generals Oliver  O.  Howard 1854 

Alfred  H.  Terry 1865 

Christopher  C.  Augur 1843 

George  Crook 1852 

Nelson  A.  Miles 1866" 

Ranold  Ss  Mackenzie...  1862 


CHIEF  OFFICERS  OF  THE  U.  S.  NAVY. 


NAME. 

Whence 
Ap- 
pointed. 

Original 
Entry 
into 
Service. 

Rank. 

David  D.  Porter  
Stephen  C.  Rowan  

Penn  
Ohio  

1829 
1826 

Admiral. 
Vice-Admiral. 

John  L.  Worden 

Edward  T.  Nichols 

George  H.    Cooper 

Aaron  K.  Hughes 

Charles  H.  Baldwin... 
Robert  W.  Shufeldt... 
Thomas  Pattison.. 


:  

N.  Y  
Ga  

N.  Y. 

1834 
1836 
18^7 

n  
t  

N.  Y  

N.  Y  
N.  Y  

N.  Y  

*J  / 

1838 
1839 
1839 
1839 

\  Rear- Admirals. 


Edward  Simpson  
William  G.  Temple  
Thomas  S.  Phelps  

N.  Y  
Vt  
Maine..  . 

1840 
1840 
1840 

Clark  H.  Wells  
S.  P.  Quackenbush  

Penn  

N.  Y  

1840 
1840 

Earl  English  
John  H.  Upshur  

N.  J  
D.   C  

N.  Y  

1840 
1841 
1841 

Penn  

1841 

Edward  Y   McCauley  

Penn  

1841 

J  C   P  de  Krafft           

Ill 

1841 

Y  Commodores. 

Oscar  C.    Badger  

Penn  

1841 

Stephen  B    Luce 

N.  Y. 

1841 

John  Lee  Davis                              .    ... 

Ind   . 

1841 

Alexander  A   Semmes 

Md  .    . 

1841 

William  T.  Truxtun  
Jonathan   Young  
William  K.  Mayo 

Penn  
Ill  
Va  

1841 
1841 
1841 

James  E.  Jowett  

T.  Scott  Fillebrown 

Ky.  

Maine  

1841 

1841 

Johnuss  H.    Rell  

Md  

1841 

. 

SPEAKERS. 


SPEAKERS  OF  THE  HOUSE  OF  REPRESENTATIVES.* 


Name. 

State. 

Con 
gress 

Term  of  Service. 

F.  A.  Muhlenberg.  
Jonathan  Trumbull  
F.  A.  Muhlenberg.  

Pennsylvania... 
Connecticut  
Pennsylvania  .... 
New  Jersey  

Massachusetts.... 
North  Carolina- 
Massachusetts.... 
Kentucky  

South  Carolina.  . 
Kentucky  

New  York  
Virginia  
Kentucky  
New  York  

ISt 

2d 
3d 
4th 

5th 
6th 
7th 
8th 
9th 
loth 
nth 
I2th 
x3th 
1  3th 
1  4th 
1  5th 
1  6th 
i6th 
1  7th 
1  8th 
igth 

20th 
21St 
22d 

23d 

23d 

24th 
25th 
26th 
27th 
28th 
2gth 
3oth 

3ISt 
32d 

33d 
34th 
35th 
36th 
37th 
38th 
39th 
4Oth 

4ISt 

42d 
43d 
44th 
44th 
45th 
46th 
47th 
48th 

April  i,  1789,  to  March  4,  1791 
October  24,  1791,  to  March  4,  1793 
December  2,  1703,  to  March  4,  1795 
December  7,  1795,  to  March  4,  1797 
May  15,  1797,  to  March  3,  1799 
December  2,  1799,  to  March  4,  1801 
December  7,  1801,  to  March  4,  1803 
October  17,  1803,  to  March  4,  1805 
December  2,  1805,  to  March  4,  1807 
October  26,  1807,  to  March  4,  1809 
May  22,  1809,  to  March  4,  1811 
November  4,  1811,  to  March  4,  1813 
May  24,  1813,  to  Jan'y  19,  1814 
January  19,  1814,  to  March  4,  1815 
December  4,  1815,  to  March  4,  1817 
December  i,  1817,  to  March  4,  1819 
December  6,  1819,  to  May  15,  1820 
November  15,  1820,  to  March  4,  1821 
December  4,  1821,  to  March  4,  1823 
December  i,  1823,  to  March  4,  1825 
December  5,  1825,  to  March  4,  1827 
December  3,  1827.  to  March  4,  1829 
December  7,  1829,  to  March  4,  1831 
December  5,  1831,  to  March  4,  1833 
December  2,  1833,  to  June  2,  1834 
June  2,  1834,  to  March  4,  1835 
December  7,  1835,  to  March  4,  1837 
Septembers,  1837,  to  March  4,  1839 
Decemben6,  1839,  to  March  4,  1841 
May  31,  1841,  to  March  4,  1843 
December  4,  1843,  to  March  4,  1845 
December  1,^1845,  to  March  4,  1847 
December  6/1847,  to  March  4,  1849 
December22,  1849,10  Marcti4,  1851 
December  i,  1851,  to  March  4,  1853 
December  5,  1853,  to  March  4,  1855 
February  2,  1856,  to  March  4,  1857 
December  7,  1857,  to  March  4,  1859 
February  i,  1860,  to  March  4,  1861 
July  4,  1861,  to  March  4,  1863 
December  7,  1863,  to  March  4,  1865 
December  4,  1865,  to  March  4,  1867 
March  4,  1867,  to  March  4,  1869 
March  4,  1869,  to  March  4,  1871 
March  4,  1871,  to  March  4,  1873 
December  i,  1873,  to  March  4,  1875 
December  6,  1875,  to  Aug.  20,  1876 
December  4,  1876,  to  March  4,  1877 
October  15,  1877,  to  March  4,  1879 
March  18,  1879,  to  March  4,  1881 
December  5,  1881,  to  March  4,  1883 
December  3,  1883,  to 

Theodore  Sedgwick 

«                 « 
Joseph  B.  Varnum  
Henry  Clay  

Henry  Clay  

John  W.  Taylor  
Philip  P.  Barbour  
Henry  Clay  
John  W  Taylor  

Andrevi    Stevenson  
John  Bell  .  . 

Virginia  
Tennessee  

James  K   Polk  ..  .. 

Robert  M.  T.  Hunter  
John  White 

Kentucky  

John  W   Davis  

Indiana  

Robert  C.  Winthrop  

Massachusetts  ... 

Howell  Cobb 

Kentucky  
Massachusetts... 

Nathaniel  P.  Banks  

James  L.  Orr  

South  Carolina... 
New  Jersey.... 

Wm    Pennington.. 

Galusha  A.  Grow  
Schuyler  Colfax  

Pennsylvania  .... 
Indiana  

M 

Maine  

James  G.  Elaine  

Michael  C   Kerr  

Indiana  

Samuel  J.  Randall  

J.  Warren  Keifer  
John  G.  Carlisle  

Pennsylvania  

Ohio  "... 
Kentucky  

*  Not  including  Speakers  pro  tent. 

CONGRESSIONAL   REPRESENTATION  OF  THE  STATES. 
I.  RATIO  OF  REPRESENTATIVES  AND  POPULATION. 

By  Constitution,  1789 One  to  30,000. 

First  Census,  from  March  4th,  1793 "     33,000. 


Second 
Third 


1803. 
1813. 


33,000. 
35,000. 


6^8 


CONGRESSIONAL  REPRESENTA  77 ON. 


By  Fourth  Census,  from  March  4th,  1823 One  to  40,000. 


Fifth 

Sixth 

Seventh 

Eighth 

Ninth 

Tenth 


1 

1843  

« 

1853  

( 

1863 

< 

1873. 

( 

1883.. 

47,700. 
70,680. 

93,423. 
127,381. 
131,425. 


II.  REPRESENTATIVES  FROM  EACH  STATE  UNDER  EACH  CENSUS. 


STATES. 

Consti 
tution, 
1789. 

ist 
census 

2d 
census 

•si 

V 

4th 
census] 

•*  s 
10  § 

£ 

ll 

x:  3 
£.c 
u 

8th 
census 

• 
•S3 
"*§ 

ioth 
census 

Connecticut  

C 

7 

7 

7 

6 

6 

Delaware 

I 

2 

Georgia  .            

a 

2 

6 

0 

C 

1 

1 

Maryland  

6 

8 

8 

6 

g 

7 

9 
6 

£. 

Massachusetts.   ..        

8 

I4 

1  7 

20 

12 

New  Hampshire  

« 

4 

c 

6 

16 
6 

c 

New  Jersey  

4 

c 

6 

6 

6 

i 

3 

New  York  

6 

IO 

17 

27 

T.A. 

4.O 

7A 

. 

North  Carolina  

TO 

12 

1-7 

6^ 
1  1 

I  7 

J4 

OJ 

8 

31 

8 

34 

Pennsylvania 

0 

13 

18 

2'1 

26 

°8 

~o 

Rhode  Island 

I 

2 

2 

2 

2 

^4 

-5 

24 

27 

South  Carolina.... 

5 

6 

8 

q 

q 

7 

6 

Virginia  

IO 

TO 

22 

21. 

22 

21 

I  c 

1  7 

I  | 

IO 

Kentucky 

2 

6 

IO 

1  7 

2 

6 

1  j 

. 

Tennessee  

6 

I  -j 

j  j 

IO 

g 

Ohio  

6 

IQ 

21 

21 

IQ 

20 

21 

Alabama  

•j 

c 

7 

7 

6 

8 

8 

Illinois  

-J 

\A. 

IQ 

2O 

Indiana    .     ... 

7 

IO 

1  1 

j  j 

*y 

I  7 

I  7 

Louisiana.. 



1  J 

6 

63 

Maine              

7' 

^ 

7 

6 

c 

Mississippi. 

I 

2 

5' 

J^ 

Missouri  

I 

2 

c 

7 

1  3 

14. 

Arkansas  

T 

? 

^ 

4 

C 

Michigan  

•J 

^ 

6 

q 

II 

California 

2 

6 

Florida  

i 

2 

2 

Iowa               

2 

6 

Q 

II 

Minnesota 

2 

2 

•j 

c 

Oregon  

I 

I 

I 

I 

Texas.            

2 

4' 

6 

II 

Wisconsin 

•3 

6 

8 

q 

Kansas  .        .... 

I 

•i 

7 

Nebraska 

7 

Nevada...            

T 

i 

I 

Colorado. 

T 

West  Virginia  

3 

4 

Whole  number.. 

65 

TOC 

TIT 

181 

?n 

J 

?^10 

' 

?73 

?37 

?43 

703 

37,5 

1       J 

SUPREME  COURT. 


659 


Chief  Justices  and  Associate  Justices  of 
the  U.  S.  Supreme  Court.* 

State  Whence  Appointed. 

Term  of 

Service. 

Years  of 
Service.! 

John  Jay  f 

New  York 

!789-i795 
1789-1791 
1789-1810 
1789-1798 
1789  1796 
1789-1790 
1790-1799 
1791-1793 
1793-1806 

J795-I795 
1796-1811 
1796-1801 
1798-1829 
1799-1804 
1801-1835 
1804-1834 
1806-1823 
1807-1826 
1811-1845 
1811-1836 
1823-1845 
1826-1828 
1829-1861 
1830-1846 
1835-1867 
1836-1864 
1836-1841 
1837-1865 
1837-1852 
1841-1860 
1845-1872 
1845-1851 
1846  1869 
1851-1857 
1853-1861 
1858-1881 
1861-1881 
1862- 
1862-1877 
1863- 
1864-1873 
1870-1880 
1870- 
1872-1882 
1874- 
1877- 
1880- 
1881- 
1881- 
1882- 

6 

2 
21 

9 

7 

9 

2 
J3 

15 

5 
31 

5 
34 
30 
17 
19 
34 
25 

22 
2 

32 

16 
32 
28 

28 
15 
r9 
27 
6 

23 

6 
8 
23 

20 
15 

9 

IO 

10 

John  Rutledge  "I"         

South  Carolina  

William  Gushing  g    

Massachussetts  

James  Wilson  $     

Pennsylvania  

John  Blair  f 

Virginia.            

Robert  H    Harrison  •{• 

Maryland 

James  Iredell  |      

Morth  Carolina  
Maryland 

Thomas  Johnson  \ 

William  Patterson  $ 

New  Jersey 

South  Carolina 

Samuel  Chase  & 

Maryland 

Oliver  Ellsworth  f 

Connecticut. 

Bushrod   Washington  $ 

Virginia 

Alfred  Moore  f 

North  Carolina 

John  Marshall^  
William    Johnson  |......  .  ., 

Virginia  
South  Carolina  .. 

Brockholst  Livingston  §  
Thomas  Todd$  

New  York                

Kentucky  

Joseph   Story  2... 

Massachusetts.           

Gabriel  Uuval  f  
Smith    Thompson  2           .. 

Maryland  
New  York 

Robert  Trimble  §  

Kentucky  

John  McLean  g  

Ohio  

Henry  Baldwin  $  

Pennsylvania  

James   M.  Wayne  g  

Roger  B.  Taney  \ 

Maryland 

Philip  P.  Barbourg. 

Virginia                      

John  Catron  $ 

Tennessee 

John  McKinley  $ 

Alabama 

Peter  V.  Daniel  % 

Virginia 

Samuel  Nelsonf  

New  York 

Levi  Woodbury  $       

New  Hampshire 

Robert  C.  Grierf    

Pennsylvania 

Benjamin  R    Curtis  f 

M  assachusetts 

John  A.  Campbell  f  

Alabama           .  . 

Nathan  Clifford  £  

Maine 

Noah  H.  Swaynef  

Ohio 

Samuel  F.  Miller  

Iowa            .        

David   Davis  f                      

Illinois 

Stephen  J.  Field  

California 

Salmon  P.  Chase  $ 

Ohio                        

William  Strong  f 

Pennsylvania 

Joseph  P.  Biadley  ..  . 

New   Jersey 

Ward    Hunt  

New  York 

Morrison  R.  Waite 

Ohio 

John  M.  Harlan 

Kentuckv... 

William  B.  Woods  Georgia.''. 

Stanley   Matthews  Ohio                

Horace   Gray  Massachusetts       

Samuel  Blatchford  .  .  .                         New  York... 

*  Chief  Justices  in  heavy  type,     f  Resigned,     f  Presided  one  term.     §  Died  in  office. 


66O     WHERE  OUR  CHIEF  OFFICERS  CAME  FROM. 


WHERE  OUR   CHIEF  OFFICERS  CAME  FROM. 

From  the  beginning  of  the  Government  in  ij8q  to  1884. 


STATES. 

Presidents. 

V  ice- 
Presidents. 

Secretaries  of 
State. 

Secretaries  of 
Treasury. 

Secretaries  of 
War. 

Secretaries  of 
Navy. 

Secretaries  of 
Interior. 

Postmasters- 
General. 

Attorneys-Seneral. 

Supreme  Court 
Justices, 

Presidents  /rc>  /*>>«. 
of  Senate. 

aj 

3 
O 

& 

O 

g 

1 

I 

Alabama  

T 

2 

2 

c 

Arkansas  

California  

I 

Colorado  

Connecticut    

I 

. 

2 

I 

I 

^ 

Delaware 

2 

I 

Florida  

Georgia    

I 

2 

2 

I 

2 

2 

I 

Illinois     

2 

I 

2 

8 

Indiana  

I 

T 

I 

2 

2 

I 

7 

1  1 

Iowa  

? 

2 

f 

5 

Kansas  

Kentucky     .    . 

2 

T 

7 

T 

7, 

2 

4. 

27 

Louisiana  

I 

T 

T 

I 

4 

Maine. 

I 

2 

j 

I 

f 

I 

8 

T 

2 

T 

7 

2 

C 

c 

2 

21 

Massachusetts  
Michigan      

2 

3 

3 

3 

4 

T 

5 

2 

I 

5 

4 

2 
2 

4 

Minnesota  

T 

I 

Mississippi  

T 

T 

j 

T 

4 

Missouri  

T 

i 

T 

3 

Nebraska  

Nevada  

New  Hampshire  ... 

y 

T 

2 

T 

7 

8 

New  Jersey  

T 

7 

? 

T 

? 

9 

New  York 

2 

6 

I 

I 

41 

North  Carolina    ..  . 

7 

TO 

Ohio  

7 

4 

3 

7 

7, 

7 

c 

T 

J 

26 

Oregon  

Pennsylvania  
Rhode  Island 

I 

i 

3 

7 

6 

2 



2 

6 

4 

3 

2 

3 

38 

2 

South  Carolina  . 

f 

2 

„ 

T 

T 

7 

3 

2 

Tennessee  

7 

T 

T 

? 

7 

T 

1 

2 

2 

16 

Texas 

i 

I 

7 

4 

Virginia         .        .  . 

5 

? 

6 

7 

^ 

T 

4 

5 

5 

4 

40 

2 

T 

3 

Total  

?f 

?o 



74 

77 

3° 

M 

70 

38 

4P- 

7,0 

' 

* 

OUR  REPRESENTATIVES  ABROAD.  55 x 


OUR  REPRESENTATIVES  ABROAD. 


COUNTRY. 

Name  and  Rank. 

Residence. 

alary. 

Argentine  Republic 
Austria-Hungary  ... 

Juenos  Ayres  

$7,500 

12,000 
3,500 
7,500 

5,000 
12,000 
1,800 

10,000 

10,000 
12,000 

5,000 

7,500 
5.000 
5,000 

3,625 
2,000 
17,500 

2,625 

2,000 

17,500 
2,625 

2,000 

6,500 

7,500 

5,000 

12,000 

3,500 

12,000 

2,500 

2,500 

5,000 
12,000 
1,800 

7,500 

5,000 

5,000 
10,000 
5,000 
6,500 

2,625 
6,500 
5,000 

12,000 

3,000 
7,5oo 
5,090 
7,5oo 

3,ooo 
7,500 

Alphonso  Taft,*  E.  E.  and  M  P  

lenry  White,  Sec.  Leg.,  and  C.  G  

Vienna  

Bolivia  
Brazil  

Richard  Gibbs,  M.  R.  and  C.  G  
^homas  A.  Osborne,  E.  E.  and  M.  P. 
Charles  B.  Trail,  Sec.  Legation  

Henry  C.  Hall,  E.  E.  and  M.  P  

La  Paz  

•lio  de  Janeiro  
Rio  de  Janeiro  

Central  American 
States  
Chili  

China 

C.  A.  Logan,  E.  E.  and   M.  P  

J.  Russell  Young,  E.  E.  and  M.  P  
jhester  Holcombe,  Sec.  and  Int  
Vm.  L.  Scruggs,  Minister  Res  
Lucius  H.  F^ote,  E.  E.  and  M.  P  
Wick'm  Hoffman,  M.  R.  and  C.  G.... 
Levi  P.  Morton,  E.  E.  and  M.  P  

Santiago  „  

Deking  
>eking  

Colombia  
Corea 

Seoul  
Copenhagen  
Paris  .            

Denmark  

L.  J.  Brulatour,  Sec.  Legation  

Paris  

lenri  Vignaud,  2d  Sec.  Legation  

Paris                   

Aaron  A.  Sargent,  E.  E.  and  M.  P.... 
H.  Sidney  Everett,  Sec.  Legation  

Berlin  
Berlin.           

Chapman  Coleman,  2d  S.  Legation  
ames  R.  Lowell,  E.  E.  and  M.  P  
Vm.  J.  Hoppin,  Sec.  Legation  
E.  S.  Nadal,  2d  Sec.  Legation  

Berlin  

Greece  ,.  
Hawaiian  Islands.... 
Hayti  .  ... 

Lugene  Schuyler,  M.  R.  and  C.  G  
Rollin  M.  Daggett,  Min.  Res  

Athens  
Honolulu  

ohn  M.  Langston,  M.  R.  and  C.  G.. 
Wm.  W.  Astor,  E.  E.  and  M.  P  

Port  au  Prince  

^ewis  Richmond,  Sec.  of  Leg.  and  C. 

ohn  A.  Bingham,  E.  E.  and  M.  P.... 
jiustavus  Goward,  Sec.  Legation  
Willis  N.  Whitney,  Interpreter  
J.  H.  Smyth,  M.  R.  and  C.  G  
Philip  H.  Morgan,  E.  E.  and  M.  P... 

Tokei  (Yedo)  
Tokei  (Yedo)  
Tokei  (Yedo)...;  
Monrovia  

Liberia  

Netherlands  

Paraguay  and  Uru 

-lenry  H.  Morgan,  Sec.  Legation  
Wm.  L.  Dayton,  Minister  Res  

Wm   Williams,  Charge  d'Affaires  
S.  G.  W.    Benjamin,  Min.  Res.  anc 
Consul-General  

Mexico  

The  Hague  

Teheran  

Seth  S.  Phelps,  E.  E.  and  M.  P  

John  M.  Francis,  M.  R.  and  C.  G  

Roumania  
Russia  

Eugene  Schuyler,  M.R.andC.  G  

George  W.  Wertz,  Sec.  Legation  
Eugene  Schuyler,  M.  R.  and  C.  G...., 
J.  A.  Halderman,  M   R.and  C.  G  
John  W.  Foster  E.  E  and  M.  P  

Athens'.  

St    Petersburg  

St.  Petersburg  

siam  

Bangkok 

Madrid  

Sweden  and  Norway 
Switzerland  
Turkey. 

Dwight  T.  Reed,  Sec.  and  C.  G  
Wm.  W.Thomas,  Jr.,  Min.  Res  
Michael  J.  Cramer,  M.  R.  and  C.  G.. 
Lewis  Wallace,  E.  E.  and  M.  P  
G.  Harris  Heap.  Sec.  Leg.  and  C.  G. 
A.  A.  Gargiuln,  Interpreter  
Jehu  Baker,  Minister  Res  

Madrid           

Stockholm  
Berne,  
Constantinople  
Constantinople  
Constantinople  
Caracas  

Venezuela  ,  

662        OUR  RE  PRESENT  A  77  VES  FR  OM  ABR  OAD. 


OUR  REPRESENTATIVES  FROM  ABROAD 


COUNTRY. 


NAME. 


Argentine  Republic Senor  Don  Louis  L.  Dominguez.* 

ISeflor  Don  Florencio  L.   Dominguez.f 
Austria- Hungary 'Baron  Ignatz   von  Schaeffer  (absent).* 

iCount   von   Lippe  Weissenfield.J 
Belgium Mr.   Bounder  de  Melsbroeck.* 

!  Count    Gaston  d'Arschot.J 

Brazil Senhor  J.  G.  do  Amaral  Valente.J 

Chili Senor  Don  Joaquin    Godoy.* 

'  Senor   Don  Federico    Pinto.f 
China t jMr.Cheng  Tsao  Ju.* 

I  Mr.  Tsii  Shau  Pung.f 

Denmark Mr.  Carl  Steen  Anderson  de  Billie.$ 

France Mr.  Theodore  Roustan  (absent).* 

Mr.  Horace  Denaut.J 
Germany , .Captain  C.  von  Eisendecker.* 

j Count  Lyden.f 
Great  Britain....  ...JThe  Honorable  L.  S.  Sackville  West.* 


j  Dudley  E.  Saurin,  Esq.f 
,  Mr.  H.  A.  P.  Carters- 


Hawaii  , 

Hayti Mr.  Stephen  Preston.* 

Mr.  Charles  A.  Preston. •}• 
Italy jBaron  de  Fava  (absent).* 

Marquis  A.  Dalla  Valle  de  Mirabello.| 
Japan Joshii  Terashima  Munenori    (absent").* 

Mr.  Naito  Ruijiro.f 
Mexico 'Senor  Don  Matias  Romero  (absent^.* 

iSenor  Don  Cayetano  Romero. J 
Netherlands |Mr.  G.  de  Weckherlin  (absent).^ 

j  Baron  P.  de  Smeth  Van  Alphen  J 

Peru  'Senor  Don  J.   Federico    Elmore.| 

Portugal iViscount  das  Nogueiras.* 

Russia Mr.  Charles  de  Struve.* 

;Mr.  Gregoire  de  \Villamov.f 
Spain jSefior  Don  Juan  Valera.* 

Senor  Don  Enrique  Dupuy  de  Lome.| 


Sweden  and  Norway.. 


Switzerland  ... 


Count  Carl  Lewenhaupt  (absent) 
Mr.  C.  de  Bildt.J 
Colonel  Emile  Frey.* 


Major  Karl  Kloss.f 
Turkey Tewfik  Pasha.* 

Rustem  Effendi.f 
Uruguay jSenor  Don  Enrique  M.  Estrazulas.  % 

*  Envoy     Extraordinary     and    Minister    Plenipotentiary,     t  Secretary    of    Legation. 
I  Counselor  and  Charge  d' Affaires,     g  Minister  Resident'and  Consul  General. 


PA  Y  OF  CHIEF  OFFICERS  V.  S.  NA  VY.  5 

PAY  OF  THE  CHIEF  OFFICERS  OF  THE  U.  S.  NAVY. 


At  Sea. 

On  Shore 
Duty. 

On  Leave 
or  Waiting 
Orders 

$I3,OOO 

$13  ooo 

$  1  3  ooo 

Q  OOO 

8  ooo 

Rear-  Admirals  .                        

6,OOO 

<5,ooo 

4  OOO 

Commodores.                       

<^,OOO 

4,000 

3  OOO 

4,<COO 

3,^00 

2  8OO 

Commanders.       .  .                                  ... 

3,^00 

3,000 

2,"JOO 

Lieutenant-Commanders  — 
First  four  years..        

2,800 

2,400 

2,OOO 

After  four  years  .         

3.OOO 

2,600 

2  2OO 

Lieutenants  —  First  five  years  

2,4OO 

2,000 

1,  600 

After  five  years  

2,6OO 

2,200 

I  800 

Masters  —  First  five  years  

1,  800 

i.Soo 

I,2OO 

After  five  years  

2,OOO 

1,700 

I,4OO 

Ensigns  —  First  five  years. 

I,2OO 

1,000 

800 

After  five  years 

I.4OO 

1,200 

I  OOO 

Midshipmen 

I  OOO 

800 

600 

Cadet  Midshipmen  

^OO 

^oo 

<?oo 

Mates  .      . 

QOO 

700 

^oo 

Medical  and   Pay  Directors,  Inspectors,  and 
Chief  Engineers  

4  400 

Fleet  Surgeons,  Paymasters,  and  Engineers. 
Surgeons,  Paymasters,  and  Chief  Engineers  — 
First  five  years  

4,400 
2,800 

2,400 

2,000 

Second  five  years  

3.200 

2,800 

2,400 

Third  five  years        • 

1   ^OO 

•}  2OO 

2  6oO 

Fourth  five  years.. 

7  700 

3  6OO 

2  8oO 

After  twenty  years  

4  2OO 

4  ooo 

•3  OOO 

Passed  Assistant  Surgeons,  Paymasters,  and 
Engineers  —  First  five  years  

2,OOO 

i,  800 

I    =?OO 

After  five  years  

2,2OO 

2,000 

I,7OO 

Assistant  Surgeons,  Paymasters,  and  Engi 
neers  — 
First  five  years  

I  7OO 

i  400 

I  OOO 

After  five  years  

I  QOO 

i  600 

I  2OO 

Chaplains  —  First  five  years. 

2  t^OO 

2  OOO 

I  OOO 

After  five  years  

2  800 

2  3OO 

I  QOO 

Boatswains,  Gunners,  Carpenters,  and  Sail- 
makers  — 
First  three  years  ,  ...  . 

I  2OO 

QOO 

7OO 

I   '?OO 

I  OOO 

800 

Third  three  years 

J  4OO 

I   3OO 

QOO 

Fourth  three  years.... 

I  6OO 

I   3OO 

I  OOO 

After  twelve  years 

I  800 

I  600 

I  2OO 

Cadet  Engineers  (after  examination)  

I,  OOO 

800 

600 

664  PA  YAIENTS  FOR 

PAY  OF  CHIEF  OFFICERS  OF  THE  U.  S.  ARMY. 

i 

•Pay  of  Officers  in  Active  Service. 


GRADE  OR  RANK. 

1 

f  early  Pay 

„ 

First  5 
years 

After  5 

After  10 

After  15 
years 

After  20 

years 

$13,1500 

10  /.    c  . 

20  p.    c. 

30  /.   c 

40  /.   c. 

1  1  ,000 

Major-General  

7,5oo 

Brigadier-General  

5,500 

Colonel       

3,500 

$3>85° 

$4,2OO 

$4,500 

$4,500 

Lieutenant-Colonel 

3.OOO 

3,3OO 

7,6oo 

3.QOO 

4.OOO 

Major  

2,500 

2,750 

3,OOO 

3,250 

3.IJOO 

Captain,  mounted.          

2,000 

2,200 

2,4OO 

2,6OO 

2  800 

Captain   not  mounted   

i,  800 

,980 

2,  1  60 

2,340 

2  52O 

Regimental  Adjutant  

i,  800 

,980 

2,  1  60 

2.340 

2,520 

Regimental  Quartermaster  
1st  Lieutenant,  mounted  
1st  Lieutenant,  not  mounted... 
2d  Lieutenant,  mounted  

i,  800 
i,  600 
1,500 
1,500 

,980 

,760 

,650 
,650 

2,  1  60 
1,920 
1,  800 
1,  800 

2,340 
2,o8o 
1,950 
1,950 

2,520 
2,240 
2,IOO 
2,IOO 

2d  Lieutenant,  not  mounted.. 
Chaplain  

1,400 
1,500 

,540 
,650 

1,  680 
1,  800 

1,820 

',95° 

1,960 
2,100 

PAYMENTS  FOR  PENSIONS  IN   1883. 


Pensions  paid  during  the  Year. 

Number  of 
Pensioners. 

STATES. 

For  Regular 
Pensions. 

For 
Arrears  of 
Pensions. 

Salary  and 
Expenses 
of  Pension 
Agents. 

Total 
Disburse 
ments. 

1882. 

1883. 

Dollars. 

i,948,453-54 
4,045,320.08 
5,863,544.76 
5,636,155.64 
2,087.440.80 
3,616,997.31 
2,753.227-4° 
5,100,507.50 
2,842,400.69 
1,600,370.16 
3,282,322.78 
2,809,535.73 
3,176,762.17 

3,054-975-95 

408,379.66 

4,088,557-37 
4,174,624  48 
3,572,  433-21 

Dollars. 

5aI-47 
4,091.60 
5,26  j.3o 
8.43'-57 
4,216.72 

i,4I3-73 
2,760.28 
4,126.67 
7,483-83 
7,  353-60 
3,5i5-42 
3i965-93 
5.364-72 
4,081.47 

2,198.01 
8,053.01 
6,970-37 

Dollars. 

11,938.11 
18,858.60 
22,643.97 
23,562.99 
13,264.55 
14,358.56 
14,039.04 
17,483-23 
i5,379-76 
8,353-37 
14*39*-13 
19,205.99 

17,99749 
13.224.50 

5,859-22 
19,240.51 
16,438.17 
22,915-73 

Dollars. 

1,960,913.12 
4,068,270.28 
5,891,449.03 
5,668,150.20 
2,104,922.07 
3,632,769.60 
2,772,026.72 
5,122,117.40 
2,865,264.28 
1,616,077.13 
3,300,229.33 
2,832,707.65 
3,200,124.38 
3,072,281.92 
414,238.88 
4,109,995-89 
4,199,115-66 
3,601,319.31 

11,526 
22,004 

23,557 
26,163 
11,028 
13,860 
11,999 
18,805 

'7,693 
6,606 

13,033 
16,017 

i8,7'5 
16,750 

1,962 
20,962 

J5,i93 
20,324 

11,827 
23,495 
25.854 
27,686 
11,007 
16,051 
13,080 
20,921 
17,189 
7,001 
M.653 
16,141 
19,300 
16,006 
2,191 
22,338 
17,525 
2i,393 

Massachusetts  

Ohio  

New  Hampshire... 

Indiana  
Tennessee  .*.....! 
Kentucky  
Wisconsin  
New  York  

Pennsylvania  
Pennsylvania  
California  

New  York 

Uist.  of  Columbia.. 

60,064,009.23    79,808.70  1288,154.92    60,431,972.85 

285,697 

303,658 

BALANCE  OF  TRADE. 


665 


BALANCE  OF  TRADE, 

Showing  our  imports,  our  exports,  and  the  excess  either  way  for 
twenty  years. 


YEAR. 

Merchandise  at  Gold  Value. 

Imports. 

Exports. 

Excess. 

1864 

$316,447,283 
238,745.580 
434,812,066 
395,703,100 

35  7,  436»44<> 
417.506,379 
435.958,408 
520,223,684 
626,505,077 
642,136,210 
567,406,342 
533,005,436 
460,741,191 
451,323,126 
437.051,532 
445.777.775 
667,954,746 
642,664,628 

724.639.574 
723,180,914 

$158,887,988 
162,013,500 

348,859,522 

297,303,653 
281,952,899 
286,117,697 
392,771,768 
442,820,178 
444,177,586 
522,479,317 
586,283,040 
513,441,711 
540,384,671 
602,475,220 
694,848,496 
710,439,44! 
835,638,658 
902,367,346 
750,542,257 
823,839,402 

Imports  $157,559,295 
Imports      76,732,082 
Imports      85,952,544 
Imports      98,459,447 
Imports      75,483,541 
Imports    131,388,682 
Imports      43,186,640 
Imports      77,403,506 
Imports     182,417,491 
Imports    119,656,288 
Exports      18,876,698 
Imports       19,563,725 
Exports      79,623,480 
Exports    152,152,094 
Exports    257,796,964 
Exports    264,661,666 
Exports    167,683,912 
Exports    259,702,718 
Exports      25,902,683 
Exports    100,658,488 

i86q 

1866 

1867 

1868        .     . 

1869    . 

1870  ... 

1871 

1872..  . 

1871  .. 

1874  

1875  

1876  

1877  

1878  

1879  

1880  

1881  

1882 

1881 

YEAR. 

Specie. 

Imports. 

Exports. 

Excess. 

1864  , 

$I3,II5,6l2 
9,810,072 
10,700,092 
22,070,475 
14,188,368 
19,807,876 
26,419,179 
21,270,024 
13.743.689 
21,480,937 
28,454,906 
20,900,727 
15,936,681 
40,774,414 
29,821,314 
20,296,000 
93,034,310 

110,575,497 
42,472,390 
28,489,391 

.$105,396,541 
67,643,226 
86,044,071 
60,868,372 
93,784,102 
57,138,380 
58,155,666 
98,44L988 

79.877,534 
84,608,574 
56,630,405 
92,132,142 
56,506,302 
56,162,237 
33,733,225 
24,997,441 
17,142,919 
19,406,847 
49,417,479 
31,820,333 

Exports  $92,280,929 
Exports    57,833,154 
Exports    75.343,079 
Exports    38,797,897 
Exports    79,595,734 
Exports    37,330,504 
Exports    31,736,486 
Exports    77,171,964 
Exports    66,133,845 
Export^    63,127,637 
Exports    28,175,499 
Exports    71,231,425 
Exports    40,569,621 
Exports    15,387,753 
Exports      3,911,911 
Exports      4,701,441 
Imports    75.89i.39i 
Imports    91,168,650 
Exports      6,945,089 
Exports      3,330,942 

1865 

1866  

1867  

1868  

1869  

l8?O 

1871  

1872 

1873 

1874 

187; 

1876          

1877 

1878  

1879  

1880  . 

1881 

1882  

1883  

666          REVENUES  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 


YEAR  ENDED 
JUNE  30. 

Amount 
collected. 

Expense 
of  collecting. 

Per  cent, 
of  cost. 

1858  

$41  78q  620  06 

$2  QO7  776  80 

1859..., 

40  c;6^  824  78 

*n-syv-'j>jju-0y 

6.94 

60- 

1860.. 

c?  187  r  1  1  87 

v5»4W>9j1-77 

1  777   1  88  1C 

1861  

70  ^S"7  12^  64 

OOJ/)100'1^ 

2  8  A  7  A  C  C  X/1 

0.27 

7     T  5i 

1862  

40  O^6  7Q7  62 

•<;»04,5>4;>>04 

7.15 

fi   ^7 

1863  

6Q,Of5Q  6d.2  4O 

7  181  026  1  7 

/i  fin 

w 

1864  

IO2,  7l6  I  C2  QQ 

4IQ2  ^82  Al 

4.00 

£> 
^y 

1865 

84  028  260  60 

4.09 

w 

1866  ., 

1  7Q  046  6?  i  ?8 

5'4I5>449-32 

6-39 

o  n°. 

> 

1867 

176  417  810  88 

5>342j4o9-99 

-2    ofi 

w 

rX 

1868 

164.  4.64,  coo  c6 

'/uj>y/y-ui 
7  641  1  1  6  68 

3.2t) 
/I    f\C 

1860... 

1  80  048  426  63 

r    ogg  082   ">T 

4.05 

£ 

1870  .. 

I  Q4.  =578  774  4.4. 

6  277  7A7  68 

2.99 

0 

1871  

206  270  408  05 

6  <;68  '•co  61 

.20 

7  T# 

1872  

2l6,77O  286  77 

6  Q^O  177  88 

3.10 

S3 

1873  

188,089  522  7° 

7  O7  7  86A  7O 

.^i 

7  7fi 

U 

1874  

16^,107  877  60 

o-/° 

W 

1875  

1^7  167  722  ^^ 

7  028  521  80 

•4y 

HH 

1876  

148  071,084  61 

6  704  8^8  OQ 

^t-4/ 

H 

1877  

I  ^O,Qs6  4Q7.O7 

6  ?OI  O77  C7 

Oo 

4  06 

1878  

130,170,680.20 

c  826  Q74  72 

447 

1879  

I  77,2^0,047.70 

"5,477  421   C2 

7  QQ 

1880 

1  86  522  064  60 

6  O^  7  2  C  7  C  7 

1881  

198  159  076.02 

****•'•  J»*JJOJ 

6  787  288  10 

•ZO 

7  22 

1882  . 

2  >o  4.  1  0  7  7O  2  < 

6  506  759  26 

2  QC 

1883... 

214  7O6  406  Q7 

6  ^Q7  ?OQ  47 

•*«yi 

7  O7 

r   1863... 

$77,  640,787.0^ 

^108  685  oo 

O'W 
O  2Q 

1864  

109,741,134  10 

2C7  772  QQ 

O  27 

1865  

209,464,215  25 

^8C  27Q  C2 

o  18 

M 

1866  

309,226,813.42 

t;,787  128  77 

I  87 

^ 

1867  

266,027,1577.47 

7,7^C  Q2Q  8l 

2  77 

£ 

1868  

191,087,589.41 

8,7Ot;,766  76 

4  cr 

ti 

1869  

158,356,460.86 

7,2t57,I76  1  1 

4  "50 

a] 

1870  

184,  899.  7  ^6.40 

7  2157.470.81 

7.  02 

-,< 

1871 

147  008  I  c;7  67 

7  CQ  ?  7  j^  1  7 

c  ^n 

_3 

1872  

130,642,177.72 

5,694,116.86 

4.76 

<     -i 

1877 

117  720  714  14 

574O  °  7O  OO 

460 

z; 

1874  

102,409,784.90 

4,509,976.05 

4.40 

^H 
jj 

1875  

1  1  0,OO7,  49  v  ">8 

4,289,442.71 

^.89 

—  H 

1876  

116,700,732.03 

3,942  613.72 

7.38 

5 

1877  

1  1  8  630,407.83 

7,556,947.85 

2.99 

1878 

I  IO  ^8l  624  74 

3  280  162  22 

2  06 

4 
£ 

1879  

113,561,610.58 

7,527,956.56 

3.16 

•^ 

1880... 

124,009,777  92 

3,657,105.10 

2.95 

1881. 

1  7^  264  78^  c;i 

4,727,707  24 

7.20 

1882  

146,497,595.45 

4,097,241.34 

2.79 

I 

1883  

144,720,368.98 

4,424,707,39 

3-05 

PUBLIC  DEBT  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 


667 


PUBLIC  DEBT  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 


£  To  January  ist  of  each  year  to  1842.     To  July  ist,from  1843-1883.'} 


I791 

1792 77,227,924 

1793 80,352,634 

1794 78,427,404 

1795 80,747,587 

1796 83,762,172 

1797-' 82,064,479 

1798 79,228,529 

1799 78,408,669 

1800 82,976,294 

1801 83,038,050 

1802 86,712,632 

1803 77,054,686 

1804 86,427,120 

1805 82,312,150 

1806 75,723,270 

1807 69,218,398 

1808 65,196,317 

1809  57,023,192 

1810 53,!73>2i7 

1811 48,005,587 

1812 45,209,737 

1813 55,962,827 

1814 81,487,846 

1815. 99,833,660 

1816  127,334,933 

1817 123,491,965 

1818. 103,466,633 

1819 95,529,648 

1820 91,015,566 

1821 89,987,427 

1822  93,546,676 

1823 90,875,877 

1824 90,269,777 

1825 83,788,432 

1826 81,054,059 

1827 73,987,357 

1828 67,475,043 

1829 58,421,413 

1830 48,565,406 

1831 39,123,191 

1832 24,322,235 

1833 7,001,698 

1834 4,760,082 

1835 37,513 

1836 : 336,957 

1837 3.308,124 


52  1838 $10,434,221  14 

661839 3,573,343  82 

041840 5,250,875  54 

77  1841 13,594,480  73 

39  1842 20,601,226  28 

07  1843 32,742,922  oo 

33  1844 23,461,652  50 

12  l845 15,925,303  01 

77  1846 15,550,202  97 

35  1847 38,826,534  77 

801848 47,044,862  23 

25  1849 63,061,858  69 

3°  1850 63,452,773  55 

88  1851 68,304,796  02 

501852 66,199,341  71 

661853 59,803,117  70 

64  1854 42,242,222  42 

97  1855 35,586,858  56 

09  1856 3r,972,537  9° 

52  1857 28,699,831  85 

761858 44,911,881  03 

90  1859 58,496,837  88 

571860 64,842,287  88 

24  1861 90,580,873  72 

15  1862 524,176,412  13 

74  1863 1,119,772,138  63 

16  1864 1,815,784,370  57 

83  1865 2,680,647,869  74 

28  1866 2,773,236,173  69 

15  1867 ...2,678,126,103  87 

661868 2,611,687,851  19 

98  1869 2,588,452,213  94 

28  1870 2,480,672,427  81 

77  1871 2,353,211,332  32 

7i  1872 2,253,251,328  78 

99  1873 2,234,482,993  20 

20  1874 2,251,690,468  43 

87  1875 - 2,232,284,531  95 

67  1876 2,180,395.067  15 

50  1877 2,205,301,392  10 

68^878 2,256,205,892  53 

1811879 2,245,495,072  04 

83'i88o  2,120,415,370  63 

08:1881 2,069,013,569  58 

05^1882 , 1,918,312,994  03 

83  1883 1,884,171,728  07 

07 


668 


POLITICAL  DIVISION  OF  THE  HOUSE. 


POLITICAL  DIVISION  OF  THE  PRESENT  HOUSE  OF  REPRE. 
SENTATIVES. 


STATES. 

I 

d 
J 

STATES. 

1 

i 

& 

Alabama  

8 

Missouri. 

\A 

Arkansas  

c 

California  .          

6 



Nevada  

' 

Colorado  

I 

New  Hampshire        

2 

Connecticut 

1 

New  Jersey 

Delaware 

i 

New  York 

. 

21 

1  1 

Florida  

i 

I 

North  Carolina  

8 

I 

Georgia 

10 

Ohio  

i  ^ 

8 

Illinois  

1  1 

Oregon  . 

Indiana                           

Pennsylvania. 

12 

I  c 

Iowa 

7" 

Rhode  Island 

2 

Kansas.          

7 

South  Carolina.. 

6 

Kentucky   .     ...       

2 

Tennessee           .       .  . 

8 

2 

c 

I 

Texas  

10 

I 

Maine..             .... 

4 

Vermont  

2 

Maryland  

4 

2 

Virginia  

4 

c 

Massachusetts           

? 

q 

West  Virginia  

7 

Michigan.              

6 

(Wisconsin  

6 

3 

Minnesota    .        

c 

Mississippi  

6 

Total  

198 

124 

Total 322 

Greenback    I 

Vacancies...  2 


325 


CONSTITUTION  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

[Went  into  operation  on  the  first  Wednesday  in  March,  1789.] 


PREAMBLE. 

WE,  the  people  of  the  United  States,  in  order  to  form  a  more  perfect 
union,  establish  justice,  insure  domestic  tranquillity,  provide  for  the  com 
mon  defense,  promote  the  general  welfare,  and  secure  the  blessings  of 
liberty  to  ourselves  and  our  posterity,  do  ordain  and  establish  this  Con 
stitution  for  the  United  States  of  America. 

ARTICLE  I. 

OF  THE  LEGISLATIVE  POWER. 

SECTION  1.  All  legislative  powers  herein  granted  shall  be  vested  in  a 
Congress  of  the  United  States,  which  shall  consist  of  a  Senate  and  House 
of  Representatives. 

OF  THE  HOUSE  OF  REPRESENTATIVES. 

SEC.  2.  The  House  of  Representatives  shall  be  composed  of  members 
chosen  every  second  year  by  the  people  of  the  several  States,  and  the  elec 
tors  in  each  State  shall  have  the  qualifications  requisite  for  electors  of  the 
most  numerous  branch  of  the  State  Legislature. 

No  person  shall  be  a  Representative  who  shall  not  have  attained  to  the 
age  of  twenty-five  years,  and  been  seven  years  a  citizen  of  the  United 
States,  and  who  shall  not,  when  elected,  be  an  inhabitant  of  that  State  in 
which  he  shall  be  chosen. 

Representatives  and  direct  taxes  shall  be  apportioned  among  the  several 
States  which  may  be  included  within  this  Union,  according  to  their  re 
spective  numbers,  which  shall  be  determined  by  adding  to  the  whole 
number  of  free  persons,  including  those  bound  to  service  for  a  term  of 
years,  and  excluding  Indians  not  taxed,  three-fifths  of  all  other  persons. 
The  actual  enumeration  shall  be  made  within  three  years  after  the  first 
meeting  of  the  Congress  of  the  United  States,  and  within  every  subsequent 
term  of  ten  years,  in  such  manner  as  they  shall  by  law  direct.  The  num 
ber  of  Representatives  shall  not  exceed  one  for  every  thirty  thousand,  but 
each  State  shall  have  at  least  one  Representative;  and,  until  such  enume 
ration  shall  be  made,  the  State  of  New  Hampshire  shall  be  entitled  to 
choose  three,  Massachusetts  eight,  Rhode  Island  and  Providence  Planta 
tions  one,  Connecticut  five,  New  York  six,  New  Jersey  four,  Pennsylvania 
eight,  Delaware  one,  Maryland  six,  Virginia  ten,  North  Carolina  five, 
South  Carolina  five  and  Georgia  three. 

When  vacancies  happen  in  the  representation  from  any  State,  the  execu 
tive  authority  thereof  shall  issue  writs  of  election  to  fill  such  vacancies. 

The  House  of  Representatives  shall  choose  their  speaker  and  other  offi 
cers  ;  and  shall  have  the  sole  power  of  impeachment. 

OF  THE  SENATE. 

SEC.  3.  The  Senate  of  the  United  States  shall  be  composed  of  two  Senators 
from  each  State,  chosen  by  the  Legislature  thereof,  for  six  years ;  and  each 
Senator  shall  have  one  vote. 

Immediately  after  they  shall  be  assembled  in  consequence  of  the  first 
election,  they  shall  be  divided  as  equally  as  maybe  into  three  classes. 
The  seats  of  the  Senators  of  the  first  class  shall  be  vacated  at  the  expira 
tion  of  the  second  year,  of  the  second  class  at  the  expiration  of  the  fourth 
year,  and  of  the  third  class  at  the  expiration  of  the  sixth  year,  so  that 
one-third  may  be  chosen  every  second  year;  and  if  vacancies  happen  by 
resignation,  or  otherwise,  during  the  recess  of  the  Legislature  of  any  State. 
the  executive  thereof  may  make  temporary  appointments  until  the  nexj 
meeting  of  the  Legislature,  which  shall  then  fill  such  vacancies. 


669 


670 


CONSTITUTION 


No  person  shall  be  a  Senator  who  shall  not  have  attained  to  the  age  ol 
thirty  years,  and  been  nine  years  a  citizen  of  the  United  States,  and  who 
shall  not,  when  elected,  be  an  inhabitant  of  that  State  for  which  he  shall 
be  chosen. 

The  Vice-president  of  the  United  States  shall  be  President  of  the  Senate, 
but  shall  have  no  vote,  unless  they  be  equally  divided. 

The  Senate  shall  choose  their  other  officers,  and  have  a  President  pro 
te>npore,  in  the  absence  of  the  Vice-President,  or  when  he  shall  exercise 
the  office  of  President  of  the  United  States. 

The  Senate  shall  have  the  sole  power  to  try  all  impeachments.  "When 
Bitting  for  that  purpose,  they  shall  be  on  oath  or  affirmation.  When  the 
President  of  the  United  States  is  tried,  the  Chief  Justice  shall  preside;  and 
no  person  shall  be  convicted  without  the  concurrence  of  two-thirds  of  the 
members  present. 

Judgment  in  cases  of  impeachment  shall  not  extend  further  than  to 
removal  from  office,  and  disqualification  to  hold  and  enjoy  any  office  of 
honor,  trust  or  profit,  under  the  United  States;  but  the  party  convicted 
shall  nevertheless  be  liable  and  subject  to  indictment,  trial,  judgment  and 
punishment  according  to  law. 

MATTER  OF  ELECTING  MEMBERS. 

SEC.  4.  The  times,  places  and  manner  of  holding  elections  for  Senators 
and  Representatives,  shall  be  prescribed  in  each  State  by  the  Legislature 
thereof;  but  the  Congress  may  at  any  time,  by  law,  make  or  alter  such 
regulations,  except  as  to  the  places  of  choosing  Senators. 

CONGRESS  TO  ASSEMBLE  ANNUALLY. 

The  Congress  shall  assemble  at  least  once  in  every  year,  and  such  meet 
ing  shall  be  on  the  first  Monday  in  December,  unless  they  shall  by  law 
appoint  a  different  day. 

POWERS. 

SEC.  5.  Each  house  shall  be  the  judge  of  the  elections,  returns  and  quali 
fications  of  its  own  members,  and  a  majority  of  each  shall  constitute  a 
quorum  to  do  business  j  but  a  smaller  number  may  adjourn  from  day  to 
day,  and  may  be  authorized  to  compel  the  attendance  of  absent  members, 
in  such  manner,  and  under  such  penalties,  as  each  house  may  provide. 

Each  house  may  determine  the  rules  of  its  proceedings,  punish  its  mem 
bers  for  disorderly  behavior,  and,  with  the  concurrence  of  two-thirds, 
expel  a  member. 

Each  house  shall  keep  a  journal  of  its  proceedings,  and  from  time  to 
time  publish  the  same,  excepting  such  parts  as  may,  in  their  judgment, 
require  secrecy;  and  the  yeas  and  nays  of  the  members  of  either  house 
on  any  question  shall,  at  the  desire  of  one-fifth  of  those  present,  be  entered 
on  the  journal. 

Neither  house,  during  the  session  of  Congress,  shall,  without  the  con 
sent  of  the  other,  adjourn  for  more  than  three  days,  nor  to  any  other  place 
than  that  in  which  the  two  houses  shall  be  sitting. 

COMPENSATION,  ETC.,  OF  MEMBERS. 

SEC.  6.  The  Senators  and  Representatives  shall  receive  a  compensation 
for  their  services,  to  be  ascertained  by  law,  and  paid  out  of  the  Treasury 
of  the  United  States.  They  shall  in  all  casses,  except  treason,  felony  and 
breach  of  the  peace,  be  privileged  from  arrest  during  their  attendance  at 
the  session  of  their  respective  houses,  and  in  going  to  and  returning  from 
the  same;  and  for  any  speech  or  debate  in  either  house,  they  shall  not  be 
questioned  in  any  other  place. 

No  Senator  or  Representative  shall,  during  the  time  for  which  he  was 
elected,  be  appointed  to  any  civil  office  under  the  authority  of  the  United 
States,  which  shall  have  been  created,  or  the  emoluments  whereof  shall 
have  been  increased  during  such  time;  and  no  person  holding  any  office 
under  the  United  States,  shall  be  a  member  of  either  house  during  his 
continuance  in  office. 

MANNER  OF  PASSING  BILLS,  ETC. 

SEC.  7.  All  bills  for  raising  revenue  shall  originate  in  the  House  of  Repre 
sentatives  ;  but  the  Senate  may  propose  or  concur  with  amendments  as  on 
other  bills. 


OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 


671 


Every  bill  which  shall  have  passed  the  House  of  Representatives  and 
the  Senate,  shall,  before  it  becomes  a  law,  be  presented  to  the  President  of 
the  United  States;  if  he  approve  he  shall  sign  it,  but  if  not  he  shall  return 
it,  with  his  objections,  to  that  house  in  which  it  shall  have  originated,  who 
shall  enter  the  objections  at  large  on  their  journal,  and  proceed  to  recon 
sider  it.  If,  after  such  reconsideration,  two-thirds  of  that  house  shall 
agree  to  pass  the  bill,  it  shall  be  sent,  together  with  the  objections,  to  the 
other  house,  by  which  it  shall  likewise  be  reconsidered,  and  if  approved 
by  two-thirds  of  that  house,  it  shall  become  a  law.  But  in  all  such  cases 
the  votes  of  both  houses  shall  be  determined  by  yeas  and  nays,  and  the 
names  of  the  persons  voting  for  and  against  the  bill  shall  be  entered  on 
the  journal  of  each  house  respectively.  If  any  bill  shall  not  be  returned 
by  the  President  within  ten  days  (Sunday  excepted)  after  it  shall  have 
been  presented  to  him,  the  same  shall  be  a  law,  in  like  manner  as  if  he  had 
signed  it,  unless  the  Congress  by  their  adjournment  prevent  its  return,  in 
which  case  it  shall  not  be  a  law. 

Every  order,  resolution  or  vote,  to  which  the  concurrence  of  the  Senate 
and  House  of  Representatives  may  be  necessary  (except  on  a  question  of 
adjournment),  shall  be  presented  to  the  President  of  the  United  States; 
and  before  the  same  shall  take  effect,  shall  be  approved  by  him,  or  being 
disapproved  by  him,  shall  be  re-passed  by  two-thirds  of  the  Senate  and 
House  of  Representatives,  according  to  the  rules  and  limitations  pre 
scribed  in  the  case  of  a  bill. 

POWER  OF  CONGRESS. 

SEdJJ.  The  Congress  shall  have  [power  to  lay  and  collect  taxes,  duties, 
imposts  and  excises,  to  pay  the  debts  and  provide  for  the  common  defense 
and  general  welfare  of  the  United  States;  but  all  duties,  imposts  and 
excises  shall  be  uniform  throughout  the  United  States; 

To  borrow  money  on  the  credit  of  the  United  States; 

To  regulate  commerce  with  foreign  nations,  and  among  the  several 
States,  and  with  the  Indian  tribes; 

To  establish  an  uniform  rule  of  naturalization,  and  uniform  laws  on  the 
subject  of  bankruptcies  throughout  the  United  States; 

To  coin  money,  regulate  the  value  thereof,  and  of  foreign  coin,  and  fix 
the  standard  of  weights  and  measures; 

To  provide  for  the  punishment  of  counterfeiting  the  securities  and  cur 
rent  coin  of  the  United  States; 

To  establish  post-offices  and  post-roads ; 

To  promote  the  progress  of  science  and  useful  arts,  by  securing  for  limited 
times  to  authors  and  inventors  the  exclusive  right  to  their  respective 
writings  and  discoveries ; 

To  constitute  tribunals  inferior  to  the  Supreme  Court- 

To  define  and  punish  piracies  and  felonies  committed  on  the  high  seas, 
and  offenses  against  the  law  of  nations; 

To  declare  war,  grant  letters  of  marque  and  reprisal,  and  make  rules 
concerning  captures  on  land  and  water; 

To  raise  and  support  armies,  but  no  appropriation  of  money  to  that  use 
shall  be  for  a  longer  term  than  two  years; 

To  provide  and  maintain  a  navy; 

To  make  rules  for  the  government  and  regulation  of  the  land  and  naval 
forces ; 

To  provide  for  calling  forth  the  militia  to  execute  the  laws  of  the  Union, 
suppress  insurrections  and  repel  invasions; 

To  provide  for  organizing,  arming  and  disciplining  the  militia,  and  for 
governing  such  part  of  them  as  may  be  employed  in  the  service  of  the 
United  States,  reserving  to  the  States  respectively  the  appointment  of  the 
officers,  and  the  authority  of  training  the  militia  according  the  discipline 
prescribed  by  Congress; 

To  exercise  exclusive  legislation  in  all  cases  whatsoever,  over  such  dis 
trict  (not  exceeding  ten  miles  square)  as  may,  by  cession  of  particular 
States,  and  the  acceptance  of  Congress,  become  the  seat  of  the  government 
of  the  United  States,  and  to  exercise  like  authority  over  all  places  pur 
chased  by  the  consent  of  the  Legislature  of  the  State  in  which  the  same 
shall  be,  for  the  erection  efforts,  magazines,  arsenals,  dockyards  and  other 
needful  buildings;  and 

To  make  all  laws  which  shall  be  necessary  and  proper  for  carrying  into 
execution  the  foregoing  powers,  and  all  other  powers  vested  by  this  Con,- 


6/2 


CONSTITUTION 


stitution  in  the  government  of  the  United  States,  or  in  any  department  or 
officer  thereof. 

LIMITATION  OF  THE  POWERS  OF  CONGRESS. 

SEC.  9.  The  migration  or  importation  of  such  persons  as  any  of  the  States 
now  existing  shall  think  proper  to  admit,  shall  not  be  prohibited  by  the 
Congress  prior  to  the  year  one  thousand  eight  hundred  and  eight,  but  a 
tax  or  duty  may  be  imposed  on  such  importation,  not  exceeding  ten  dol 
lars  for  each  person. 

The  privilege  of  the  writ  of  habeas  corpus  shall  not  be  suspended,  unless 
when  in  cases  of  rebellion  or  invasion  the  public  safety  may  require  it. 

No  bill  of  attainder  or  ex  post  facto  law  shall  be  passed. 

No  capitation,  or  other  direct" tax  shall  be  laid,  unless  in  proportion  to 
the  census  or  enumeration  hereinbefore  directed  to  be  taken. 

No  tax  or  duty  shall  be  laid  on  articles  exported  from  any  State. 

No  preference  shall  be  given  by  any  regulation  of  commerce  or  revenue 
to  the  ports  of  one  State  over  those  of  another;  nor  shall  vessels  bound  to, 
or  from,  one  State,  be  obliged  to  enter,  clear  or  pay  duties  in  another. 

No  money  shall  be  drawn  from  the  treasury,  but  in  consequence  of 
appropriations  made  by  law;  and  a  regular  statement  and  account  of  the 
receipts  and  expenditures  of  all  public  money  shall  be  published  from 
time  to  time. 

No  title  of  nobility  shall  be  granted  by  the  United  States :  and  no  person 
holding  any  office  of  profit  or  trust  under  them  shall,  without  the  consent 
of  the  Congress,  accept  of  any  present,  emolument,  office  or  title,  of  any 
kind  whatever,  from  any  king,  prince  or  foreign  State. 

LIMITATION  OF  THE  POWERS  OF  THE  INDIVIDUAL  STATES. 

SEC.  10.  No  State  shall  enter  into  any  treaty,  alliance  or  con  federation; 
grant  letters  of  marque  and  reprisal;  coin  money;  emit  bills  of  credit; 
make  anything  but  gold  and  silver  coin  a  tender  in  payment  of  debts; 
pass  any  bill  of  attainder,  ex  post  facto  law,  or  law  impairing  the  obligation 
of  contracts,  or  grant  any  title  of  nobility. 

No  State  shall,  without  the  consent  of  the  Congress,  lay  any  imposts  or 
duties  on  imports  or  exports,  except  what  may  be  absolutely  necessary 
for  executing  its  inspection  laws;  and  the  net  produce  of  all  duties  and 
imposts,  laid  by  any  State  on  imports  or  exports,  shall  be  for  the  use  of  the 
treasury  of  the  United  States;  and  all  such  laws  shall  be  subject  to  the  re 
vision  and  control  of  the  Congress. 

No  State  shall,  without  the  consent  of  Congres,  lay  any  duty  of  tonnage, 
keep  troops,  or  ships  of  war,  in  time  of  peace,  enter  into  any  agreement  or 
compact  with  another  State,  or  with  a  foreign  power,  or  engage  in  war, 
unless  actually  invaded,  or  in  such  imminent  danger  as  will  not  admit  of 
delay. 

ARTICLE  II. 

EXECUTIVE  POWER. 

SEC.  1.  The  executive  power  shall  be  vested  in  a  President  of  the  United 
States  of  America.  He  shall  hold  his  office  during  the  term  of  four  years, 
and  together  with  the  Vice-President,  chosen  for  the  same  term,  be  elected 
as  follows : 

MANNER  OF  ELECTING. 

Each  State  shall  appoint,  in  such  manner  as  the  Legislature  thereof  may 
direct,  a  number  of  electors,  equal  to  the  whole  number  of  Senators  and 
Representatives  to  which  the  State  may  be  entitled  in  the  Congress;  but 
no  Senator  or  Representative,  or  person  holding  an  office  of  trust  or  profit 
under  the  United  States,  shall  be  appointed  an  elector. 

The  electors  shall  meet  in  their  respective  States,  and  vote  by  ballot  for 
two  persons,  of  whom  one  at  least  shall  not  be  an  inhabitant  with  the 
same  State  as  themselves.  And  they  shall  make  a  list  of  all  the  persons 
voted  for,  and  of  the  number  of  votes  for  each  ;  which  list  they  shall  sign 
and  certify,  and  transmit  sealed  to  the  seat  of  the  government  of  the 
United  States,  directed  to  the  President  of  the  Senate.  The  President  of 
the  Senate  shall,  in  the  presence  of  the  Senate  and  House  of  Representa 
tives,  open  all  the  certificates,  and  the  votes  shall  then  be  counted.  The 
person  having  the  greatest  number  of  votes  shall  be  the  President,  if  such 
number  be  a  majority  of  the  whole  number  of  electors  appointed  ;  and  if 
there  be  more  than  one  who  have  such  majority,  and  have  an  equal 


OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 


673 


number  of  votes,  then  the  House  of  Representatives  shall  immediately 
choose  by  ballot  one  of  them  for  President;  and  if  no  person  have  a 
majority,  then  from  the  five  highest  on  the  list  the  said  House  shall  in 
like  manner  choose  the  President.  But  in  choosing  the  President,  the 
votes  shall  be  taken  by  States,  the  representation  from  each  State  having 
one  vote ;  a  quorum  for  this  purpose  shall  consist  of  a  member  or  members 
from  two-thirds  of  the  States,  and  a  majority  of  all  the  States  shall  be 
necessary  to  a  choice.  In  every  case,  after  the  choice  of  the  President,  tho 
person  having  the  greatest  number  of  votes  of  the  electors  shall  be  the 
V ice-President.  But  if  there  should  remain  two  or  more  who  have  equal 
^otes,  the  Senate  shall  choose  from  them  by  ballot  the  Vice-President. 

TIME  OF  CHOOSING  ELECTORS. 

The  Congress  may  determine  the  time  of  choosing  the  electors,  and  the 
day  on  which  they  shall  give  their  votes ;  which  day  shall  be  the  same 
throughout  the  United  States. 

WHO  ELIGIBLE. 

No  person  except  a  natural  born  citizen,  or  a  citizen  of  the  United  States 
at  the  time  of  the  adoption  of  this  Constitution,  shall  be  eligible  to  the 
office  of  President ;  neither  shall  any  person  be  eligible  to  that  office  who 
shall  not  have  attained  the  age  of  thirty-five  years;  and  been  fourteen 
years  a  resident  within  the  United  States. 

•WHEN  THE  PRESIDENT'S  POWER  DEVOLVES  ON  THE  VICE-PRESIDENT. 

In  case  of  the  removal  of  the  President  from  office,  or  of  his  death,  resig 
nation  or  inability  to  discharge  the  powers  and  duties  of  the  said  office, 
the  same  shall  devolve  on  the  Vice-President,  and  the  Congress  may  by 
law  provide  for  the  case  of  removal,  death,  resignation  or  inability,  both 
of  the  President  and  Vice-President,  declaring  what  officer  shall  then  act 
as  President,  and  such  officer  shall  act  accordingly,  until  the  disability  be 
removed,  or  a  President  shall  be  elected. 

PRESIDENT'S  COMPENSATION. 

The'President  shall,  at  stated  times,  receive  for  his  services  a  compensa 
tion  which  shall  neither  be  increased  nor  diminished  during  the  period 
for  which  he  shall  have  been  elected,  and  he  shall  not  receive  within  that 
period  any  other  emolument  from  the  United  States,  or  any  of  them. 

OATH. 

Before  he  enter  on  the  execution  of  his  office,  he  shall  take  the  following 
oath  or  affirmation  :  "  I  do  solemnly  swear  (or  affirm)  that  I  will  faithfully 
execute  the  office  of  President  of  the  United  States,  and  will,  to  the  best 
of  my  ability,  preserve,  protect  and  defend  the  Constitution  of  the  United 

States." 

POWERS  AND  DUTIES. 

SEC.  2.  The  President  shall  be  Commander-in-Chief  of  the  army  and 
navy  of  the  United  States,  and  of  the  militia  of  the  several  States  when 
called  into  the  actual  service  of  the  United  States;  he  may  require  the 
opinion,  in  writing,  of  the  principal  officer  in  each  of  the  executive  de 
partments  upon  any  subject  relating  to  the  duties  of  their  respective 
offices,  and  he  shall  have  power  to  grant  reprieves  and  pardons  for  offences 
against  the  United  States,  except  in  cases  of  impeachment. 

He  shall  have  power,  by  and  with  the  advice  and  consent  of  the  Senate, 
to  make  treaties,  provided  two-thirds  of  the  Senators  present  concur;  and 
he  shall  nominate,  and  by  and  with  the  advice  and  consent  of  the  Senate, 
shall  appoint  ambassadors,  other  public  ministers  and  consuls,  Judges  of 
the  Supreme  Court,  and  all  other  officers  of  the  United  States,  whose  ap 
pointments  are  not  herein  otherwise  provided  for,  and  which  shall  be 
established  by  law;  but  the  Congress  may  by  law  vest  the  appointment  of 
such  inferior  officers,  as  they  think  proper,  in  the  President  alone,  in  the 
Courts  of  law,  or  in  the  heads  of  departments. 

The  President  shall  have  power  to  fill  up  all  vacancies  that  may  happen 
during  the  recess  of  the  Senate,  by  granting  commissions  which  shall  ex 
pire  at  the  end  of  their  next  session. 

SEC.  3.  He  shall,  from  time  to  time,  give  to  the  Congress  information  of 
the  state  of  the  Union,  and  recommend  to  their  consideration  such  mea- 


674 


CONSTITUTION 


sures  as  he  shall  judge  necessary  and  expedient;  he  may,  on  extraordinary 
occasions,  convene  both  houses,  or  either  of  them,  and  in  case  of  disagree 
ment  between  them,  with  respect  to  the  time  of  adjournment,  he  may 
adjourn  them  to  such  time  as  he  shall  think  proper;  he  shall  receive  am 
bassadors  and  other  public  ministers ;  he  shall  take  care  that  the  laws  be 
faithfully  executed,  and  shall  commission  all  the  officers  of  the  United 
States. 

OFFICERS   REMOVED. 

SEC.  4.  The  President,  Vice-President,  and  all  civil  officers  of  the  United 
States,  shall  be  removed  from  office,  on  impeachment  for,  and  conviction 
of,  treason,  bribery  or  other  high  crimes  and  misdemeanors. 

ARTICLE  III. 

OF  THE  JUDICIARY. 

SEC.  1.  The  judicial  power  of  the  United  States  shall  be  vested  in  one 
Supreme  Court,  and  in  such  inferior  Courts  as  the  Congress  may  from  time 
to  time  ordain  and  establish.  The  Judges,  both  of  the  Supreme  and  infe 
rior  Courts,  shall  hold  their  offices  during  good  behavior,  and  shall,  at 
stated  times,  receive  for  their  services  a  compensation  which  shall  not  be 
diminished  during  their  continuance  in  office. 

SEC.  2.  The  judicial  power  shall  extend  to  all  cases,  in  law  and  equity, 
arising  under  this  Constitution,  the  laws  of  the  United.  States,  and  treaties 
made,  or  which  shall  lie  made,  under  their  authority ; 'to  all  cases  affecting 
ambassadors,  other  public  ministers  and  consuls;  to  all  cases  of  admiralty 
and  maritime  jurisdiction;  to  controversies  to  which  the  United  States 
shall  be  a  party;  to  controversies  between  two  or  more  States;  between 
a  State  and  citizens  of  another  State;  between  citizens  of  different  States; 
between  citizens  of  the  same  State  claiming  lands  under  grants  of  different 
States,  and  between  a  State,  or  the  citizens  thereof,  ar>d  foreign  States, 
citizens  or  subjects. 

JURISDICTION  OF  SUPREME  COURT. 

In  all  cases  affecting  ambassadors,  other  public  ministers  and  consuls^ 
and  those  in  which  a  State  shall  be  a  party,  the  Supreme  Court  shall  have? 
original  jurisdiction.  In  all  the  other  cases  before  mentioned,  the  Supreme 
Court  shall  have  appellate  jurisdiction,  both  as  to  law  and  fact,  with  such 
exceptions,  and  under  such  regulations  as  the  Congress  shall  make. 

OF  TRIALS  FOR  CRIMES. 

The  trial  of  all  crimes,  except  in  cases  of  impeachment,  shall  be  by  jury ; 
and  such  trial  shall  be  held  in  the  State  where  the  said  crimes  shall  have 
been  committed;  but  when  not  committed  within  any  State,  the  trial 
shall  be  at  such  place  or  places  as  the  Congress  may  by  law  have  directed. 

OF  TREASON. 

SEC.  3.  Treason  against  the  United  States  shall  consist  only  in  levying 
war  against  them,  or  in  adhering  to  their  enemies,  giving  them  aid  and 
comfort. 

No  person  shall  be  convicted  of  treason  unless  on  the  testimony  of  two 
witnesses  to  the  same  overt  act,  or  on  confession  in  open  Court. 

The  Congress  shall  have  power  to  declare  the  punishment  of  treason, 
but  no  attainder  of  treason  shall  work  corruption  of  blood,  or  forfeiture, 
except  during  the  life  of  the  person  attainted. 

ARTICLE  IV. 

STATE  ACTS. 

SEC.  1.  Full  faith  and  credit  shall  be  given  in  each  State  to  the  public 
acts,  records  and  judicial  proceedings  of  every  other  State.  And  the  Con 
gress  may,  by  general  laws,  prescribe  the  manner  in  which  such  acts, 
records  and  proceedings  shall  be  proved,  and  the  effect  thereof. 

PRIVILEGES  OF  CITIZENS. 

SEC.  2.  The  citizens  of  each  State  shall  be  entitled  to  all  privileges  and 
immunities  of  citizens  in  the  several  States. 

A  person  charged  in  any  State  with  treason,  felony  or  other  crime,  who 
shall  flee  from  justice,  and  be  found  in  another  State,  shall,  on  demand  of 


OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 


675 


the  executive  authority  of  the  State  from  which  he  fled,  he  delivered  up, 
to  be  removed  to  the  State  having  jurisdiction  of  the  crime. 

RUNAWAYS  TO  BE  DELIVERED  UP. 

No  person  held  to  service  or  labor  in  one  State,  under  the  laws  thereof, 
escaping  into  another,  shall,  in  consequence  of  ar>y  law  or  regulation 
therein,  be  discharged  from  such  service  or  labor,  but  shall  be  delivered 
up  on  claim  of  the  party  to  whom  such  service  or  labor  may  be  due. 

NEW  STATES. 

SEC.  3.  New  States  may  be  admitted  by  the  Congress  into  this  Unio  .  • 
but  no  new  State  shall  be  formed  or  erected  within  the  jurisdiction  of  any 
other  State ;  nor  any  State  be  for med  by  the  j  unction  of  two  or  more  States, 
or  parts  of  States,  without  the  consent  of  the  Legislatures  of  the  States 
concerned  as  well  as  of  the  Congress. 

TERRITORIAL  AND  OTHER  PROPERTY. 

The  Congress  shall  have  power  to  dispose  of,  and  make  all  needful  rules 
and  regulations  respecting,  the  territory,  or  other  property  belonging  to 
the  United  States ;  and  nothing  in  this  Constitution  shall  be  so  construed 
as  to  prejudice  any  claims  of  the  United  States,  or  of  any  particular  State. 

SEC.  4.  The  United  States  shall  guarantee  to  every  State  in  this  Union  a 
republican  form  of  government,  and  shall  protect  each  of  them  against 
invasion;  and,  on  application  of  the  Legislature,  or  of  the  Executive 
(when  the  Legislature  cannot  be  convened),  against  domestic. violence. 

ARTICLE  V. 

AMENDMENTS. 

The  Congress,  whenever  two-thirds  of  both  Houses  shall  deem  it  neces 
sary,  shall  propose  amendments  to  this  Constitution;  or,  on  the  applica 
tion  of  the  Legislatures  of  two-thirds  of  the  several  States,  shall  call  a 
Convention  for  proposing  amendments,  which,  in  either  case,  shall  be 
valid  to  all  intents  and  purposes,  as  part  of  this  Constitution,  when  ratified 
by  the  Legislatures  of  three-fourths  of  the  several  States,  or  by  Conven 
tions  in  three-fourths  thereof,  as  the  one  or  the  other  mode  of  ratification 
may  be  proposed  by  Congress;  provided,  that  no  amendment  which  may 
be  made  prior  to  the  year  one  thousand  eight  hundred  and  eight,  shall  in 
any  manner  affect  the  first  and  fourth  clauses  in  the  ninth  Section  of  the 
first  Article;  and  that  no  State,  without  its  consent,  shall  be  deprived  of 
its  equal  suffrage  in  the  Senate. 

ARTICLE  VI. 

DEBTS. 

All  debts  contracted,  and  engagements  entered  into,  before  the  adoption 
of  this  Constitution,  shall  be  as  valid  against  the  United  States  under  this 
Constitution  as  under  the  Confederation. 

SUPREME  LAW  OF  THE  LAND. 

This  Constitution,  and  the  laws  of  the  United  States  which  shall  be 
made  in  pursuance  thereof,  and  all  treaties  made,  or  which  shall  be  made, 
under  the  authority  of  the  United  States,  shall  be  the  supreme  law  of  the 
land;  and  the  Judges  in  every  State  shall  be  bound  thereby,  anything  in 
the  Constitution  or  laws  of  any  State  to  the  contrary  notwithstanding.. 

OATH.— NO  RELIGIOUS  TEST. 

The  Senators  and  Representatives  before  mentioned,  and  the  members 
of  the  several  State  Legislatures,  and  all  executive  and  judicial  officers, 
both  of  the  United  States  and  of  the  several  States,  shall  be  bound  by  oath 
or  affirmation  to  support  this  Constitution;  but  no  religious  test  shall  ever 
be  required  as  a  qualification  to  any  office,  or  public  trust,  under  the 
United  States. 

ARTICLE  VII. 

The  ratifications  of  the  Conventions  of  nine  States  shall  be  sufficient  for 
the  establishment  of  this  Constitution  between  the  States  so  ratifving  the 
same. 

Done  in  Convention,  by  the  unanimous  consent  of  the  States  present, 


6;6 


CONSTITUTION 


the  seventeenth  day  of  .September,  in  the  year  of  our  Lord  one  thousand 
seven  hundred  and  eighty-seven,  and  of  the  Independence  of  the  United 
States  of  America  the  twelfth.  In  witness  whereof  we  have  hereunto  sub 
scribed  our  names. 

GEORGE  WASHINGTON, 
President,  and  Deputy  from  Virginia. 

Neiv  Hampshire — John  Langdon,  Nicholas  Gilman.  Massachusetts — Na 
thaniel  Gorham,  Rufus  King.  Connecticut— William  Samuel  Johnson, 
Roger  Sherman.  New  York — Alexander  Hamilton.  New  Jersey — William. 
Livingston,  David  Brearley,  William  Patterson,  Jonathan  Dayton.  Penn 
sylvania — Benjamin  Franklin,  Thomas  Mimin,  Robert  Morris,  George 
Clymer,  Thomas  Fitzsimmons,  Jared  Ingersoll,  James  Wilson,  Governeur 
Morris.  Delaware— George  Read,  Gunning  Bedford,  Jr.,  John  Dickinson, 
Richard  Bassett,  Jacob  Broom.  Maryland — James  M'Henry,  Daniel  of  St. 
Tho.  Jenifer,  Daniel  Carroll.  Virginia— John  Blair,  James  Madison,  Jr. 
North  Carolina— William  Blount,  Richard  Dobbs  Spaight,  Hugh  William 
son.  South  Carolina— John  Rutledge,  Chas.  Cotesworth  Pinckney,  Charles 
Pinckney,  Pierce  Butler.  Georgia—William.  Few,  Abraham  Baldwin. 
Attest  WILLIAM  JACKSON,  Secretary. 


AMENDMENTS  TO  THE  CONSTITUTION. 

[The  first  ten  amendments  were  proposed  by  Congress  at  their  first  session,  in 
1789.  The  eleventh  was  proposed  in  1794,  and  the  twelfth  in  1803.] 

ARTICLE  I. 

FKEE   EXERCISE  OF   RELIGION. 

Congress  shall  make  no  law  respecting  an  establishment  of  religion,  or 
prohibiting  the  free  exercise  thereof;  or  abridging  the  freedom  of  speech, 
or  of  the  press;  or  the  right  of  the  people  peaceably  to  assemble,  and  to 
petition  the  Government  for  a  redress  of  grievances. 

ARTICLE  II. 

RIGHT  TO  BEAR  ARMS. 

A  well-regulated  militia  being  necessary  to  the  security  of  a  free  State, 
the  right  cf  the  people  to  keep  and  bear  arms  shall  not  be  infringed. 

ARTICLE  III. 

NO  SOLDIER  TO  BE  BILLETED,   ETC. 

'  No  soldier  shall,  in  time  of  peace,  be  quartered  in  any  house  without  the 
consent  of  the  owner ;  nor  in  time  of  war,  but  in  a  manner  to  be  prescribed 
by  law. 

ARTICLE  IV. 

UNREASONABLE  SEARCHES  PROHIBITED. 

The  right  of  the  people  to  be  secure  in  their  persons,  houses  papers  and 
effects,  against  unreasonable  searches  and  seizures,  shall  not  be  violated; 
and  no  Avarrants  shall  issue  but  upon  probable  cause,  supported  by  oath 
or  affirmation,  and  particularly  describing  the  place  to  be  searched,  and 
the  persons  or  things  to  be  seized. 

ARTICLE  V. 

CRIMINAL  PROCEEDINGS. 

No  person  shall  be  held  to  answer  for  a  capital  or  otherwise  infamous 
crime,  unless  on  a  presentment  or  indictment  of  a  Grand  Jury,  except  in 
cases  arising  in  the  land  or  naval  forces,  or  in  the  militia,  when  in  actual 
service,  in  time  of  war  or  public  danger;  nor  shall  any  person  be  subject 
for  the  same  offense  to  be  put  twice  in  jeopardy  of  life  or  limb;  nor  shall 
be  compelled,  in  any  criminal  case,  to  be  a  witness  against  himself;  nor 
be  deprived  of  life,  liberty  or  property  without  due  process  of  law;  nor 
shall  private  property  be  taken  for  public  use  without  just  compensation. 


677 


OF  THE  UNITED  STA  TES. 
ARTICLE  VI. 

MODK    OF    TRIAL,. 

In  all  criminal  prosecutions  the  accused  shall  enjoy  the  right  to  a  speedy 
and  public  trial,  by  an  impartial  jury  of  the  State  and  district  wherein  the 
crime  shall  have  been  committed,  which  district  shall  have  been  previ 
ously  ascertained  by  law,  and  to  be  informed  of  the  nature  and  cause  of 
the. accusation; -to  be  confronted  with  the  witnesses  against  him;  to  have 
compulsory  process  for  obtaining  witnesses  in  his  favor;  and  to  have  the 
assistance  of  counsel  for  his  defense. 

ARTICLE  VII. 

RIGHT  OF  TRIAL,  BY  JURY. 

In  suits  at  common  law,  where  the  value  in  controversy  shall  exceed, 
twenty  dollars,  the  right  of  trial  by  jury  shall  be  preserved;  and  no  fact 
tried  by  jury  shall  be  otherwise  re-examined  in  any  Court  of  the  United 
States  than  according  to  the  rules  of  the  common  law. 

ARTICLE  VIII. 

BAIL,.— FINES. 

Excessive  bail  shall  not  be  required,  nor  excessive  fines  imposed,  nor 
truel  and  unusual  punishments  inflicted. 

ARTICLE  IX. 

RIGHTS  NOT  ENUMERATED. 

The  enumeration  in  the  Constitution  of  certain  rights,  shall  not  be  con 
strued  to  deny  or  disparage  others  retained  by  the  people. 

ARTICLE  X. 

POWERS  RESERVED. 

The  powers  not  delegated  to  the  United  States  by  the  Constitution,  nor 
prohibited  by  it  to  the  States,  are  reserved  to  the  States  respectively  or  to 
the  people. 

ARTICLE  XL 

LIMITATION  OF  JUDICIAL,  POWER. 

The  judicial  power  of  the  United  States  shall  not  be  construed  to  extend 
to  any  suit  in  law  or  equity  commenced  or  prosecuted  against  one  of  the 
United  States  by  citizens  of  another  State,  or  by  citizens  or  subjects  of 
another  State,  or  by  citizens  or  subjects  of  any  foreign  State., 

ARTICLE  XII. 

ELECTION  OF  PRESIDENT. 

The  electors  shall  meet  in  their  respective  States,  and  vote  by  ballot  for 
President  and  Vice-President,  one  of  whom,  at  least,  shall  not  be  an  in 
habitant  of  the  same  State  with  themselves;  they  shall  name  in  their 
ballets  the  person  voted  for  as  President,  and  in  distinct  ballots  the  person 
voted  for  as  Vice-President;  and  they  shall  make  distinct  lists  of  all  per 
sons  voted  for  as  President  and  of  all  persons  voted  for  as  Vice-President, 
and  of  the  number  of  votes  for  each,  which  list  they  shall  sign  and  certify, 
and  transmit  sealed  to  the  seat  of  the  Government  of  the  United  States, 
directed  to  the  President  of  the  Senate;  the  President  of  the  Senate  shall, 
in  the  presence  of  the  Senate  and  House  of  Representatives,  open  all  the 
certificates,  and  the  votes  shall  then  be  counted;  the  person  having  the 
greatest  number  of  votes  for  President  shall  be  the  President,  if  such 
number  be  a  majority  of  the  whole  number  of  electors  appointed;  and  if 
no  person  have  such  a  majority,  then  from  the  persons  having  the  highest 
numbers,  not  exceeding  three,  on  the  list  of  those  voted  for  as  President, 
the  House  of  Representatives  shall  choose  immediately  by  ballot  the 
President.  But  in  choosing  the  President,  the  vote  shall  be  taken  by 
States,  the  representatives  from  each  State  having  one  vote;  a  quorum 
for  this  purpose  shall  consist  of  a  member  or  members  from  two-thirds  of 
the  States,  and  a  majority  of  all  the  States  shall  be  necessary  to  a  choice. 
And  if  the  House  of  Representatives  shall  not  choose  a  President  when 
ever  the  right  of  choice  shall  devolve  upon  them,  before  the  fourth  day  of 
March  next  following,  then  the  Vice-President  shall  act  as  President,  ae 


6;8 


CONSTITUTION  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 


the  equal  protection  of  the  laws. 
SEC.  2.  Rep 


in  the  case  of  the  death  or  other  Constitutional  disability  of  the  Presl* 
dent. 

The  person  having  the  greatest  number  of  votes  as  Vice-President  shall 
be  the  Vice-President,  if  such  number  be  a  majority  of  the  whole  number 
of  electors  appointed;  and  if  no  person  have  a  majority,  then  from  the 
two  highest  numbers  on  the  list,  the  Senate  shall  choose  the  Vice-President; 
a  quorum  for  the  purpose  shall  consist  of  two-thirds  of  the  whole  number 
of  Senators,  and  a  majority  of  the  whole  number  shall  be  necssary  to  a 
choice. 

But  no  person  Constitutionally  ineligible  to  the  office  of  President  shall 
be  eligible  to  that  of  Vice-President  of  the  United  States. 

[Ratified  in  18R5.] 
•  ARTICLE  XIII. 

SEC.  1.  Neither  Slavery  nor  involuntary  servitude,  except  as  a  punish 
ment  for  crime,  whereof  the  party  shall  have  been  duly  convicted,  shall 
exist  within  the  United  States,  or  any  place  subject  to  their  jurisdiction. 

SEC.  2.  Congress  shall  have  power  to  enforce  this  article  by  appropriate 
legislation. 

[Ratified  in  1808.] 
ARTICLE  XIV. 

SEC.  1.  All  persons  born  or  naturalized  in  the  United  States,  and  subject 
to  the  jurisdiction  thereof,  are  citizens  of  the  United  States,  and  of  the 
State  wherein  they  reside.  No  State  shall  make  or  enforce  any  law  which 
shall  abridge  the  privileges  and  immunities  of  citizens  of  the  United 
States.  Nor  shall  any  State  deprive  any  person  of  life,  liberty  or  property, 
\yithout  due  process  of  law,  nor  deny  to  any  person  within  its  jurisdiction 
rotection  of  the  laws. 

jpresentatives  shall  be  apportioned  among  the  several  States 
according  to  their  respective  numbers,  counting  the  whole  number  of  per 
sons  in  each  State,  excluding  Indians  not  taxed;  but  whenever  the  right 
to  vote  at  any  election  for  electors  of  President  and  Vice-President,  or 
United  States  Representatives  in  Congress,  executive  and  judicial  officers, 
or  the  members  of  the  Legislature  therof,  is  denied  to  any  of  the  male  in 
habitants  of  such  State,  being  twenty-one  years  of  age,  and  citizens  of  the 
United  States,  or  in  any  way  abridged,  except  for  participation  in  rebellion 
or  other  crimes,  the  basis  of  representation  therein  shall  be  reduced  in  the 
proportion  which  the  number  of  such  male  citizens  shall  bear  to  the 
whole  number  of  male  citizens  twenty-one  years  of  age  in  that  State. 

SEC.  3.  No  person  shall  be  a  Senator  or  Representative  in  Congress, 
elector  of  President  and  Vice-President,  or  hold  any  office,  civil  or  mili 
tary,  under  the  United  States,  or  under  any  State,  who,  having  previously 
taken  an  oath  as  a  member  of  Congress,  or  as  an  officer  of  the  United 
States,  or  as  a  member  of  any  State  Legislature,  or  as  an  executive  or  judi 
cial  officer  of  any  State,  to  support  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States, 
shall  have  engaged  in  insurrection  or  rebellion  against  the  same,  or  given 
aid  or  comfort  to  the  enemies  thereof;  but  Congress  may,  by  a  vote  of  two- 
thirds  of  each  House,  remove  such  disability. 

SEC.  4.  The  validity  of  the  public  debt  of  the  United  States  authorized 
by  law,  including  debts  incurred  for  the  payment  of  pensions  and  bounties 
for  service  in  suppressing  insurrection  or  rebellion,  shall  not  be  ques 
tioned;  but  neither  the  United  States  nor  any  State  shall  assume  to  pay 
any  debt  or  obligation  incurred  in  aid  of  insurrection  or  rebellion  against 
the  United  States,  or  any  claim  for  the  loss  or  emancipation  of  any  slave, 
but  all  such  debts,  obligations  and  claims  shall  be  illegal  and  void. 

SEC.  5.  The  Congress  shall  have  power  to  enforce,  by  appropriate  legis 
lation,  the  provisions  of  this  article. 

[Ratified  in  1870.] 
ARTICLE  XV. 

SEC.  1.  The  right  of  citizens  of  the  United  States  to  vote  shall  not  be 
denied  or  abridged  by  the  United  States,  or  by  any  State,  on  account  of 
race,  color  or  previous  condition  of  servitude. 

SEC.  2.  The  Congress  shall  have  power  to  enforce  this  Article  by  appro 
priate  legislation- 


T° 


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